Gujrat: A day after Minister of Pakistan allegedly claimed that Pakistan was responsible for the attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district in 2019, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Saturday said the “truth behind the attack has been revealed in Pakistan’s parliament”.
The attack on armed forces personnel on February 14, 2019, by Militants in Lethpora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, killed at least 40 personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
“The country can never forget that some people were not saddened at the sacrifice of the security personnel during the Pulwama attack. I steered clear of all controversies and silently endured all allegations as I knew that these people were looking for political gain even in the attack,” Modi was quoted in a report by Hindustan Times as saying during his address on the second day of his two-day visit to Gujarat.
“However, after the neighbouring country accepted responsibility for the attack in its parliament, the true nature of the people who resorted to ugly politics during our difficult time has been uncovered. I request them not to do such politics in the interest of the nation,” he said.
He also pointed out that these parties were “aiding anti-India powers in achieving their goals and encouraging them”.
“These parties are pawns of anti-India elements,” he said. “These people won’t do any good for the country or their party,” he added, according to the report.
“We have to remember that only when we do good to others, does good return to us. We all should work towards making India strong, independent and self-reliant, just like Sardar Patel envisioned,” Modi said.
However, Chaudhry soon cleared the confusion saying that “Pakistan does not condone terrorism”, adding that his remarks on the Pulwama attack had been “misinterpreted”.
“Pakistan doesn’t allow any terrorism, I was misinterpreted,” the Minister was quoted in a report by NDTV as saying.
“My statement is very clear. It was about Operation Swift Resort that we undertook after India dared to enter into Pakistan territory on Balakot. I was talking about the post-Pulwama operation that Pakistan undertook,” he said, trying to suggest “Pulwama” was a broad term used for the face-off.
On the afternoon of February 14, 2019, at least forty-four armed forces personnel were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
An official of the CRPF said that a “suicide car bomber” rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus near Lethpora at around 03:15 pm, resulting into an intensive blast in which 44 paramilitary personnel of the CRPF were killed.
“A total of 44 CRPF men belonging to different battalions were travelling in the vehicle when the blast occurred,” the CRPF official said. He said that the CRPF men belonged to 92, 17 and 54 battalions. The officer said that the wounded CRPF personnel were shifted to the army’s 92 base hospital.
Following the blast, Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility of the attack.
A JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan in a statement said: “dozens of forces’ vehicles were destroyed in the attack”.
The spokesperson identified the driver (of JeM) who carried out the ‘fidayeen’ attack as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama.
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