Pulwama terror attack: On this day in 2019, the CRPF personnel who were slain in a terror assault in Pulwama were remembered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. “I pay homage to the brave heroes who were martyred in Pulwama, he stated on X. We shall never forget the sacrifice and service they provided to our country.
Since 1989, the Pulwama incident has continued to be the deadliest terror strike on state security personnel in Kashmir India. The culprit was found to be a 22-year-old Kakapora resident named Adil Ahmad Dar. The Pulwama attack of 2019 took place on February 14, 2019, when a convoy of vehicles transporting Indian security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was targeted by a suicide bomber in a vehicle at Lethapora, located in the Pulwama district of what was then the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Pulwama terror attack: PM Modi honors “brave heroes” slain in the terrorist attack in Pulwama
The attack resulted in the tragic loss of 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, along with the perpetrator, Adil Ahmad Dar, a local Kashmiri youth from the Pulwama district. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. They also circulated a video featuring the assailant, Adil Ahmad Dar, a 22-year-old from Kakapora, who had joined the group a year prior to the incident. In a retaliatory action, the Indian Air Force carried out airstrikes targeting suspected terrorist camps in Pakistan’s Balakot region.
Significantly, there are claims that the Indian government disregarded at least eleven intelligence alerts from various sources, including the Indian intelligence agency Intelligence Bureau and Kashmir Police, before the attack. Satya Pal Malik, who served as the state’s governor at that time, later alleged in an interview with Karan Thapar that Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed him to maintain silence regarding security lapses within his administration.
The attack had a significant impact on India–Pakistan relations, leading to the 2019 India–Pakistan military standoff. Following this, Indian investigations identified 19 individuals as suspects. By August 2021, the primary suspect, along with six others, had been killed, and seven had been apprehended.
Ratnavali