Recalling the Pulwama terrorist attack: what happened on Feb 14, 2019?

What happened in Pulwama?

In the afternoon of February 14, 2019, a Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist rammed an explosives-laden car into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Lethpora, a village in Pulwama, on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

The attack targeted two buses in the convoy, and killed 40 personnel.

Who carried out the attack?

The attack was carried out by Adil Ahmad Dar, a 21-year-old Class 12 dropout from Gundibagh village in Pulwama. Soon after the attack, the Jaish released a pre-recorded video message on social media, in which Dar said: “By the time this video reaches you, I will be enjoying heaven… This is my last message to the people of Kashmir.”

Dar was a sawmill worker who was recruited directly to the Jaish’s ‘fidayeen’ (suicide) squad. On March 19, 2018, Dar left home for work, but did not return. His friend Sameer Ahmad Dar, then a postgraduate student of Geology at Kashmir University, also went missing.

A few days later, Dar posted a picture of himself on social media. He was holding an AK-47 rifle, and called himself “Waqas Commando”.

What happened after the attack?

The attack, and Jaish taking responsibility for it, sent India-Pakistan relations to a new low. On February 28, 2019, the Indian Air Force crossed into the Pakistani airspace and bombed an alleged Jaish-e-Muhammad training centre in Balakot.

A day later, Pakistan Air Force jets crossed to the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) to strike military installations in the Rajouri-Naushera sector. As the IAF responded to the violation of Indian airspace, one of its MiG21 Bison aircraft was shot down by Pakistan. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by the Pakistan Army, but released after two days.

How did the investigation unfold?

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrived in Srinagar the next day to collect samples and forensic evidence. Several people were subsequently arrested, and a voluminous 13,800-page chargesheet was filed before a special court in Jammu in August 2020.

The Pakistan-based leadership of the Jaish — including Masood Azhar, Rouf Asgar, and Ammar Alvi — were named as accused, along with nine local suspects, seven of whom were from Pulwama.

Four Pakistani terrorists, including the alleged mastermind Umar Farooq, were subsequently killed. Six local suspects, including a woman named Insha Jan, were arrested.

How did the NIA crack the case?

The breakthrough in the investigation came after a gunfight on the outskirts of Srinagar on March 29, 2019. Following a technical input, the J&K Police raided a house at Nowgam in the city suburbs. Two Pakistani terrorists, Umar Farooq and Kamran, were killed in the ensuing gunfight.

Umar was a nephew of Jaish chief Masood Azhar. Kamran was an IED expert. The police recovered a partially destroyed Samsung S-9 Galaxy phone from Umar. The phone did not appear to have much in it, and was initially kept at the police station in Nowgam.

Later, the police sent the phone to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) for a technical analysis. CERT-In recovered a large number of photos and videos that had been shot by Umar, and then deleted. This was the first clue.

The team also recovered communication between Umar and his Pakistani handler Ammar Alvi, a top Jaish commander, who was later declared a designated terrorist by the Centre. The pictures — including one of Umar and Insha Jan — led the NIA team to other accused, including Shakir Bashir and Peer Tariq Ahmad Shah.

Shakir, Insha, and her father, Shah, were picked up by the NIA. During the investigations, a few more names cropped up, including Abbas Rather, Sameer Dar, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, and Mudasir Ahmad Khan.

Investigations revealed that the Maruti Eeco car used by Adil Ahmad Dar had been purchased by Sajad Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Bijbehara, Anantnag. Bhat went underground immediately after the attack, and was later killed in a gunfight.

Mudasir too was killed in south Kashmir, and police claimed to have killed Sameer Dar as well.