8 militants involved in Pulwama attack killed, 7 arrested: J&K police

PULWAMA: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday led the nation in paying tributes to the CRPF jawans killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, Jammu and Kashmir police claimed that eight of the 19 perpetrators have been killed in the security forces actions and seven others arrested during the last four years. However, four others including three Pakistanis are still at large.

On February 14, 2019, Adil Ahmed Dar alias ‘Waqas Commando’, an alleged Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) cadre, had rammed an explosive laden Maruti Eeco into a bus which was part of a convoy of the CRPF at Lethpora, 25-km south of J&K’s summer capital Srinagar, killing forty jawans and maiming several others on board.

Special Director General of the CRPF Daljit Singh Chaudhry was on Tuesday joined by other senior officers of the forces and their counterparts from the J&K police, the Army including General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt. General AS Aujla and other uniformed forces and DC Pulwama Baseer-Ul-Haq Choudhary in paying floral tributes at the martyrs’ memorial at Lethpora along the Jammu-Srinagar Highway (NH44).

“Our 40 Bravehearts sacrificed their lives. We are proud of them,” SDG CRPF Chaudhry told reporters. He added, “Their sacrifice inspires us to make the country terror free.”

Additional DGP J&K police (Kashmir range), Vijay Kumar, said that out of 19 militants involved in the attack 8 have been killed and 7 arrested whereas 4 others including 3 Pakistanis are still at large.

He said that the security forces have effectively taken on the JeM as almost all its top commanders have been “neutralised.” He said, “At present, JeM has only seven to eight locals and five to six active Pakistanis including Mussa Suleimani on its rolls. The J&K police are chasing them, and they will soon be hunted down.”

IGP CRPF (Operations), M S Bhatia, said the security situation in J&K has improved considerably since the Pulwama attack and exuded confidence that such incidents will not reoccur. He said, “The situation has improved on the ground since Pulwama attack, and such attacks will never happen again given the measures taken by the security forces”.

He added, “There has been remarkable progress in terms of tackling terrorism. After the Pulwama attack, terrorist modules are being busted frequently, in most cases before they could cause any major harm. In fact, we try to deny that space to terrorists to inflict any major damage. Their ecosystem is being destroyed and we are sure that this kind of attack will not happen again.”

Endorsing him, Mr. Kumar said that, together with other security forces, the J&K police have busted a number of militant modules in recent months and that the war on “narco-terrorism” and “terror funding” has also been intensified.

He said that due to the police’s consistent efforts the cases registered against the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the militant outfits are being disposed of rapidly by the courts. “The number of such cases has come down to 950 from 1,600 since October last year whereas 13 convictions have also taken place, so far.”

Replying to a question, the officer said that there are only 37 militants active in the Valley at present including Farooq Nalli and Riyaz Chatri who are long-standing members of militant outfits whereas the others have joined their ranks recently.

On being asked about the target killing of the members of minority communities, Mr. Bhatia said, “The attacks on minority communities are acts of cowardice and those behind such attacks have been killed while measures have been taken to prevent such attacks in future”. He added, “We are determined to protect minorities and in this regard several modules involved in causing or preparing to cause harm to them have been neutralized. The CRPF and Police and other security forces have been ensuring protection to the minority community and we will ensure proper security to them.”