Jaish-e-Mohammed’s hand in Pulwama attack: NIA charge sheet
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet for the extremist attack in Pulwama, India-administered Kashmir.
According to the charge sheet, the extremist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad is active on the Pakistani soil behind this attack.
However, the Pakistani government or any of its institutions is not named in the market charge sheet.
On 14 February 2019, the CRPF convoy in Pulwama was rammed by extremists in a vehicle full of explosives in which more than 40 soldiers were killed.
According to Srinagar-based BBC correspondent Riaz Masroor, the NIA has filed a charge sheet of 13,800 pages.
The agency has named Jaish’s chief Masood Azhar, his brother Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar and one of his deputy Maroof Asghar as the main planners.
Masood Azhar is one of the three extremists who were released by the then Vajpayee government in exchange for the release of passengers of the Indian aircraft IC-814, abducted by extremists operating in Pakistan.
The names of 20 people have been taken in the charge sheet, who hatched the conspiracy, or helped to create the conspiracy or that plot was implemented on the ground.
The chargesheet includes the names of Omar Farooq, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Tariq Shah, Mohammad Abbas Nasir, Mohammad Iqbal, Waiz ul-Islam, Ishan Jan, and Bilal Ahmed.
According to the charge sheet, Masood Azhar’s nephew Mohammed Omar Farooq was a bomb making expert who crossed the LoC in 2018 and entered India-administered Kashmir. Omar Farooq was given local help by Iqbal Rather.
Adil Dar’s name is also included in the charge sheet. The charge sheet states that Omar Farooq, with the help of the local people, prepared such a large-scale explosive that Adil Dar filled in the vehicle and crashed into the CRPF convoy.
Adil Dar had died on the spot, but out of the 20 people whose names have been taken in the charge sheet, seven security forces later claimed to have been killed in separate encounters.
According to the news agency, seven people have been arrested and four people are still absconding.
