India has formally named Pakistan-based and Pakistan supported terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed for carrying out the worst ever terror attack on Indian soil since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in Delhi in May 2014.
The suicide attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists targeted a convoy of three buses of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployed in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, killing at least 39 Jawans. The is the biggest attack in terms of loss of lives since Prime Minister Modi came to power.
“This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries,” said ministry of external affairs in a strongly worded statement.
The ministry said: “This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity.”
India had suffered two major terror attacks since May 2014, the first was on Pathankot airbase in January 2016 and another on an army garrison in Uri near the line of control with Pakistan in the state of Jammu & Kashmir in September 2016. However, in terms of loss of lives, Pulwama attack on CRPF convoy is the biggest attack during the tenure of Prime Minister Modi.
Prime Minister Modi had ordered a limited surgical strike on terror camps across the line of control the same month to avenge the deaths of Indian soldiers in Uri attack.
It was hoped that it will send a strong signal to Pakistan based terrorists and its powerful army that supports them. However, this attack in the run up to the national elections due in April-May this year has come as a grave provocation for the Modi government that had promised a resolute action against Pakistan-based terror groups ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
India had also blamed Jaish-e-Mohammad for attacking its Parliament in December 2001 during the tenure of first NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The attack had claimed 14 lives and had resulted in a year long eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the forces of the two nuclear armed rivals.