Remembering Pulwama Attack: A suicide attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers

February 14 marks the fifth anniversary of one of the deadliest terror attacks carried out on India security forces the terror attack by a suicide bomber in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir 40 Central Reserve Police Force CRPF personnel lost their lives in the Pulwama attack India also marks it as a black day India on this day remembers and salutes the CRPF personnels who laid their lives for the motherlandWhat exactly happenedThe Pulwama attack had bought the country to a standstill after a suicide bomber from JaisheMohammed JeM rammed a vehicle full of explosives into a CRPF a paramilitary forces convoyOn February 14 2019 a suicide bomber attacked a convoy which included 78 buses in which around 2500 paramilitary personnel were travelling The convoy was heading to Srinagar from Jammu when the explosiveladen vehicle rammed into one of the bus killing 40 members of the CRPF personnel The attack took place on JammuKashmir National Highway NH 44 at around 315 pm The attack was the deadliest terror attack on Indias state security personnel in Kashmir since 1989The JaisheMohammed JeM a Pakistanbased Islamist terrorist group soon released a video and claimed the responsibility for the attack The suicide bomber was later identified as 22yearold Adil Ahmad Dar reportedly a resident of the Pulwama districtReaction from India and PakistanThe attack evoked a sharp reaction from across the nation and the next day the Ministry of External Affairs MEA accused Pakistan of giving ldquofull freedomrdquo to Masood Azhar leader of the JeM to operate in its country The MEA in a statement then said ldquoJeM is led by global terrorist Masood Azhar who is given full freedom by Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructurerdquoThe attack had severe reactions to IndiandashPakistan relations which further resulted in the 2019 IndiandashPakistan military standoff The National Investigation Agency dispatched a 12member team to investigate the attack along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police NIA in its chargesheet identified 19 accusedIndian Defence Forces retaliatesMeanwhile across the country protests were held Some violent protest in Jammu also resulted in curfew On 20 February 2019 Pakistani prisoner Shakarullah who was serving a life term in Jaipur Central Jail under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was stabbed and beaten to death by four other inmates India claimed that Shakarullah was allegedly killed in a fight among the inmates over television volume but Pakistan claimed that he was killed in retaliation of the Pulwama incidentIndian security forces launched a counterattack named lsquoOperation Bandarrsquo In the early morning hours of 18 February a joint team of Indian military forces killed two terrorists and two supporters in an antiterrorism encounter operation On 26 February Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control and dropped bombs into Balakot at JeM camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan The region was said to be an important training centre for the JeM and other terror organisationsA day after the Balakot airstrikes by India Pakistan Air Force retaliated and several F16s entered Indian airspace on February 27 2019 They were said to have attempted to target Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir which was foiled by the Indian Air Force