Pulwama Attack: An overview of the tragedy and what happened so far

Four years ago on 14 February 2019 a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying more than 2500 Indian security personnel from Jammu to Srinagar on National Highway 44 was attacked by vehicleborne suicide bomber in Pulwama districtrsquos Lethapora This left 40 Indian CRPF personnel being killed and many others injuredThe attack ndash also known as 2019 Pulwama attack ndash was the deadliest terror attack on Indias security personnel in Kashmir since 1989JaisheMohammed a militant group with its roots in Pakistan claimed that it was responsible for the attack in Pulwama The militant group had also released a visual of the perpetrator ndash Adil Ahmad Dar a 22yearold from Kakapora ndash who joined the group a year agoAccording to reports the last time Dars family had seen him was in March 2018 when he went out for a bicycle ride and never came back Despite Masood Azhar the leader of JaisheMohammed being known to operate there Pakistan denied any involvement in connection with the attackFollowing the incident there was uproar and mourning the death of the security personnel in the attack Security personnel who died in the incident were given state funerals in their home states Exgratia compensation of Rs 12 lakh 15000 per family of killed security personnel as well as government jobs for the next of kin were declared by the Punjab government Pakistans mostfavorablenation status was withdrawn by India India had raised 20037 customs duty on all Pakistani goods imported to India The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering FATF was urged by India to add Pakistan on the blacklist As a result The Financial Action Task Force had put Pakistan ldquogrey listrdquo to comply with 27 conditions within a given time frameFollowing intelligence inputs a joint force made up of the 55 Rashtriya Rifles the CRPF and the Special Operations Group of India engaged in an antiterrorism encounter operation in the wee hours on February 18 while on the hunt for the perpetrators in Pulwama killed two terrorists and two supportersAfter the attack Kashmiri students in various regions of India witnessed backlash including violence harassment and eviction from their houses Many Indians responded by offering to take in Kashmiris who may have been oustedAlso read IN PHOTOS India pays tribute to Pulwama martyrsTwelve Mirage 2000 jets of IAF crossed the Line of Control on February 26 and dropped bombs on Balakot Pakistan India asserted that it attacked a JaisheMohammed training facility and killed several terroristsmdashbetween 300 and 350 according to reports The IAF jets allegedly dropped their payloads before immediately reversing course over the Line of Control prompting Pakistan to claim that they scrambled jets to intercept the Indian Air Force jetsIn retaliation for the Indian bombing the previous day the Pakistan Air Force launched an airstrike into Jammu amp Kashmir on February 27 India and Pakistan both agreed that Pakistans airstrike had not damaged anything However an Indian MiG21 was shot down over Pakistan and its pilot was captured during the subsequent fight between Indian and Pakistani jets On March 1st Pakistan released the pilot44 people including JaisheMuhammad members were detained by Pakistan on March 5 Some of those detained were listed by India in a dossier it sent to Pakistan after the incident in Pulwama Pakistan stated that those detained would be held for at least 14 days and would face legal action if India produced additional proof Family members of JeM leader Masood Azhar including his son Hamad Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf were detainedThe car used in the bombing was believed to be carrying more than 300 kilogrammes 660 lb of explosives including 80 kilogrammes 180 lb of the high explosive RDX and ammonium nitrate according to initial investigations According to Lt Gen Hooda the explosives may have been stolen from a construction site Initially declaring that it was impossible for them to have crossed the border illegally he subsequently added that he could not rule it outThe National Investigation Agency was able to determine and authenticate the suicide bombers identity because of the DNA matches between Adil Ahmad Dars father and meagre parts of the car used in the attack However even after a year of investigations the NIA was unable to locate the explosives origin 19 accused were named in the charge sheet that the NIA submitted in August 2020Seven of the accused had been killed by August 2021 by Indian security forces while seven others had been arrested