Role of ISI, Pak Army clear, says top general

Srinagar: The Indian Army said Tuesday that the deadly suicide attack in which 49 CRPF personnel were killed in J&K’s southern Pulwama district on February 14 was carried out by terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed with the “active support” of Pakistan’s Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence wing. “The attack on the (CRPF) convoy was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed of Pakistan and it was being controlled from Pakistan with the active support of the ISI and the Pakistan Army”, Srinagar-based 15 Corps commander Lt. Gen. Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon said at a joint press conference of top officers of the security forces here.

He, however, also said the Indian Army had killed in less than 100 hours the JeM leaders who had planned and executed the attack. “We were tracking the top leadership of JeM in J&K. Local JeM commanders, most of them Pakistanis, who were in charge of controlling, coordinating and fabricating and also of the execution of this operation were the main people of the JeM in the Valley. We eliminated that JeM leadership in the

Valley which was being handled by the JeM from Pakistan in less than 100 hours”, the corps commander said.

He was referring to Monday’s firefight in Pulwama’s Pinglena area in which three JeM militants were killed by the security forces in a joint cordon-and-search operation. A statement by the J&K police late on Monday night had said one of the slain militants was Hilal Ahmed, a resident of Pinglena. It also said that “from the incriminating material recovered from the site of encounter the other two terrorists have been identified as foreigners from Pakistan — Kamran alias Fahad, and Rashid alias Gazi alias Lukman”. The Army said Kamran was a trusted aide of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, while Ghazi Rashid was a Pakistani national, known as a IED specialist.

An Army major, three soldiers, a J&K policeman and a civilian were also killed in the Pinglena encounter.

Lt. Gen. Dhillon, in a stern warning to sympathisers of militant groups in the state, said anyone who picks up a gun will be eliminated, unless he/she surrenders. He appealed to mothers in Kashmir to persuade their sons who have picked up the gun to surrender. He said: “In Kashmiri society, mothers have a great role to play. Through you I request all mothers of Kashmir to please request their sons who have joined terrorism to surrender and get back to the mainstream.”

At the same time, he warned: “Anyone who will pick up the gun in Kashmir will be eliminated unless he surrenders. We have a very good surrender policy initiated by the government so that they can join the mainstream.”

He said the type of the suicide attack that took place at  Lethapora happened after a long time in Kashmir, and “we will keep all options open to deal with these kinds of attacks”. He added that the security forces had leads on the type of explosives used but cannot share the details as an investigation was under way.

Replying to questions, Lt. Gen. Dhillon said: “Our focus is clear on counter-terrorism operations. We are very clear that anyone who enters the Kashmir Valley will not go back alive. There is no doubt that the Pakistan Army and ISI are involved. JeM is a child of the Pakistan Army.”

The CRPF’s Zulfiquar Hasan said: “Our helpline — 14411 — has been helping Kashmiris across the country in the wake of this attack. Lots of Kashmiri students have approached this helpline for help all over the country. All Kashmiri children studying outside have been taken care of by the security forces.” He added: “The incident happened because of an IED laden civilian car. The ROP (Road Opening Party) had secured the highway. Now, the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) on civilian cars will be changed.”

IGP (Kashmir range) S.P. Pani said: “There is a significant dip in recruitment, we have not see any recruitment in the last three months. The families are playing a huge role in this. We would like to urge the families and the community in curtailing recruitment.”