Pakistan Army, ISI involved in Pulwama attack, says Army

Majid Jahangir
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, February 19

Five days after the Pulwama attack, a senior Army officer in Kashmir said the Pakistan’s Army and Inter-Service Intelligence were involved in the attack.

“The Pulwama attack was carried out by the JeM, which is based in Pakistan, with active support of the ISI and the Pakistan Army,” the Corps Commander of Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, Lt Gen Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon said in a joint press conference here, which was also attended by IGP Kashmir SP Pani and CRPF IG Zulfiqar Hasan.  

Lt Gen Dhillon said they had eliminated the Jaish top leadership, including its operational chief, within 100 hours of the Pulwama attack.

“Within 100 hours of the Pulwama attack, we hit the JeM in the Kashmir Valley which was being handled by the Pakistan-based JeM,” Dhillon said.

Three Jaish militants, including the operational commander of Jaish, Kamran, were killed in an 18-hour-long gunfight on Monday. The gunfight also left five security men, including an Army major, dead and six others, including three officers, injured.  

Lt Gen Dhillon said Kamran was a Pakistani and was handled by the ISI and Pakistan Army from across the border.

“There is no doubt the Pakistan Army and ISI is involved. JeM is a child of the Pakistan Army,” the Corps Commander said, adding that security forces had been tracking the top leadership of the JeM since the February 14 bombing.

When asked if any slain militant killed in Pulwama on Monday had an Afghanistan connection, Dhillon said, “Many Gazis have come and gone. There is nothing new in it. We will handle it, Let any Gazi come.”

The officer said they had leads in the type of explosives that were used in the bombing on the CRPF convoy.

“We have leads on the type of explosives used but I can’t share the details as an investigation is under way,” he said.

Lt Gen Dhillon said anyone who picked up the gun in Kashmir would be eliminated unless he surrendered.

He appealed to the parents, especially mothers, to motivate their sons to return to the mainstream and lead a normal life after surrendering.