4 years of Pulwama attack: PM Modi remembers martyrs, says ‘will never forget their supreme sacrifice’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday remembered the soldiers martyred in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, on February 14, 2019.
Taking to Twitter, the prime minister said, “Remembering our valorous heroes who we lost on this day in Pulwama.”
PULWAMA ATTACK 2019
On 14 February 2019, 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred after terrorists targetted a convoy of 78 vehicles, transporting more than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.
The convoy had left Jammu around 03:30 IST and was carrying a large number of personnel due to the highway having been shut down two days prior. The convoy was scheduled to reach its destination before sunset.
The attack was carried out at Lethapora in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Along with the soldiers, a perpetrator, Adil Ahmad Dar, who was also a local Kashmiri youth from the Pulwama district, was killed.
Following the attack, India blamed Pakistan, while the latter condemned the attack and denied having any connections to it.
INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE PULWAMA ATTACK
A 12-member team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe and worked with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Initial investigations suggested the car was carrying more than 300 kilograms (660 lb) of explosives, including 80 kilograms (180 lb) of RDX, a high explosive and ammonium nitrate.
Soon, the NIA was able to establish and confirm the identity of the suicide bomber as DNA samples from “meagre fragments of the car” used in the suicide attack matched with Adil Ahmad Dar’s father. However, even after a year of investigation, NIA was unable to trace the source of the explosives.
A total of 19 accused were named in the chargesheet filed by the NIA in August 2020.
AFTERMATH AND BALAKOT AIRSTRIKE
On February 26, the same year, several Mirage 2000 jets of the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and dropped bombs into Balakot, Pakistan. India claimed that it attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp and killed a large number of terrorists, reported to be between 300 and 350.
The next day, the Pakistan Air Force conducted an airstrike into Jammu and Kashmir in retaliation for the Indian airstrike. Both Pakistan and India agreed that no damage was caused by Pakistan’s airstrike. However, in an ensuing fight between Indian and Pakistani jets, an Indian MiG-21 was shot down over Pakistan and its pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured.
Pakistan released videos and images showing Varthaman being rescued from a violent mob of villagers by its soldiers, receiving first aid and being questioned blindfolded.
Varthaman was subsequently released from Pakistani captivity on what Pakistan said was humanitarian grounds and returned to India through the Wagah border crossing on March 1, 2019.