NIA, NSG reach region for forensic analysis, Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh to reach soon
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, decided to initiate diplomatic steps to ensure the complete isolation of Pakistan from the international community, after 45 armed forces personnel were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Lethpora area along the Srinagar-Jammu highway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Thursday afternoon.
The attack is being considered the worst-ever since armed insurgency started in the state in 1989.
Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley addressing the media after the meeting, said that the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) for Pakistan has been withdrawn.
“MEA will initiate all possible diplomatic steps which are to be taken to ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible is available of having a direct hand in this act,” Jaitley said.
Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had claimed responsibility for the attack. Jaish has identified the suicide bomber as Adil Ahmad, a resident of Gundi bagh in Pulwama. Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh is expected to leave for Srinagar.
Experts of the National Security Guard (NSG) of India and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India already left for the region on Friday to join the probe, a report by PTI stated.
According to a home ministry official quoted in the report, an NIA team with forensic experts was being sent to Srinagar to assist Jammu and Kashmir Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime.
Explosive specialists of the Black Cat commando force NSG would also join in the investigation into the attack, another official had said, according to the report.
Modi paid tribute to the personnel who had lost their lives in the attack, ANI reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi: I pay tribute to soldiers who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack. Our security forces have been given full freedom. We have full faith in their bravery. pic.twitter.com/kXtK3GyV70
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019
“Those who did this should realise that threat dream of dividing this country has to be dropped. We will not let those who wish to demolish our economically feel succeeded,” he said. “Several countries have condemned this attack and have promised to stand by India. We all will have to fight against this terror together. When every country will start acting against it, terror will not sustain for long.”
Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah severely criticized Governor Satya Pal Malik, and accused him of “failing” to carry out his “primary responsibility” and asked him to visit those injured in the Pulwama attack and take stock of the situation.
He tweeted, “The Governor of J&K has failed in his primary responsibility. He compounds things by preferring to appear on every single news channel he can find rather than rush to the valley to meet the injured and yet somehow Mehbooba & I are to blame for everything (sic).”
The Governor of J&K has failed in his primary responsibility. He compounds things by preferring to appear on every single news channel he can find rather than rush to the valley to meet the injured and yet somehow Mehbooba & I are to blame for everything. #fuzzylogic
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 15, 2019
“It’s mind boggling that the biggest ever attack in JK takes place & yet for some channels/talking heads the only people NOT accountable are the central government & the governor’s administration.”
“Dear Governor Malik, some unsolicited advice from a person who has governed J&K for 6 years. Pls stop giving interviews, let your advisors do it. You will only make things worse by trying to talk your way out of this situation (sic)”, he said in a series of tweets.
Please take the state plane & fly to Srinagar, visit the injured. Convene an urgent UHQ meeting & take stock of the situation. This should have been done yesterday but yesterday you were too busy passing the buck.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 15, 2019
Accusing Malik of “playing politics” over the issue and trying to “pass the buck”, he urged him to be a “statesman for once”.
You are a politician & obviously your first instinct will be to play politics but this is neither the time nor the occasion. Please suppress your desire to politicise everything & instead be a statesman for once. The nation will appreciate that more even if your party might not.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 15, 2019
“This should have been done yesterday but yesterday you were too busy passing the buck…You are a politician & obviously your first instinct will be to play politics but this is neither the time nor the occasion. Please suppress your desire to politicise everything & instead be a statesman for once. The nation will appreciate that more even if your party might not,” he said.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI, IANS, Indian Express)
