All CRPF personnel have been recalled immediately owning to the situation and their leaves have been cancelled.
In view of recent events, the government is shoring up reserves in Kashmir owing to the volatile situation. An additional 10,000 boots will be on the ground in Kashmir including 45 companies of CRPF, 35 of BSF, 10 of ITBP and 10 of SSB.
All CRPF personnel have been recalled immediately owning o the situation and their leaves have been cancelled.
Meanwhile, in new revelations from the Pulwama investigation, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has found that the car used in the terrorist attack was of the 2010-11 model which was re-painted.
The NIA team also found a can with 30 kg RDX near the site of the blast. The vehicle used was a Maruti Eeco. A shock absorber found near the site of the blast indicated the model of the car and the year it was manufactured.
The NIA will also take DNA samples from slain terrorist Aadil’s family to match with the blood found at the site of the blast. This will help confirm if Aadil was the only one in the car or if he had someone else with him.
In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a JeM suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing around 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.
Read: How withdrawing MFN status has hit Pakistan
More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.
The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar, officials said.
Police identified the suicide bomber as Adil Ahmed, who officials said joined the Jaish in 2018. He was driving a vehicle packed with over 100 kg of explosives on the wrong side of the road and hit the bus, in which 39-44 personnel were travelling, head-on, an official at the spot said.
With inputs from Manish Shukla
1. Hurriyat complains about crackdown
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The action comes days after an audacious terror attack on a convoy in Pulwama district in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives on February 14.
2. US reaction
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Asserting that there is a lot of problems between India and Pakistan, US President Donald Trump has said New Delhi is looking at something "very strong" in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on February 14 in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed a vehicle carrying a huge quantity of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Saturday condemned JKLF chief Yasin Malik's detention and the crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir leadership, saying force and intimidation will only worsen the situation.
Police swooped on Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir members in Kashmir during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, and detained around two dozen of its cadres, including its chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz - hours after JKLF chief Yasin Malik was detained on Friday night.
Strongly condemn the nocturnal crackdown on Jamat-e-Islami leadership and cadres and the arrest of Yasin Malik. Such illegal and coercive measures against
Kashmiris are futile and will not change realities on ground. Force and intimidation will only worsen the situation, Mirwaiz posted on Twitter.
In view of recent events, the government is shoring up reserves in Kashmir owing to the volatile situation. An additional 10,000 boots will be on the ground in Kashmir including 45 companies of CRPF, 35 of BSF, 10 of ITBP and 10 of SSB.
All CRPF personnel have been recalled immediately owning to the situation and their leaves have been cancelled.
Kashmiri separatist and JKLF chief Yasin Malik was detained by the police late on Friday night.
The cops apprehended him from his Maisuma residence here. He reportedly has been taken to the Kothibagh Police Station.
Read: BCCI to write to ICC, urge cricket community to sever ties with terror nations
Malik’s detention comes ahead of a crucial hearing on Article 35-A in Supreme Court which is likely to take place on Monday (February 25). The article, incorporated into the Indian Constitution in 1954, grants special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, in new revelations from the Pulwama investigation, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has found that the car used in the terrorist attack was of the 2010-11 model which was re-painted.
The NIA team also found a can with 30 kg RDX near the site of the blast. The vehicle used was a Maruti Eeco. A shock absorber found near the site of the blast indicated the model of the car and the year it was manufactured.
The NIA will also take DNA samples from slain terrorist Aadil’s family to match with the blood found at the site of the blast. This will help confirm if Aadil was the only one in the car or if he had someone else with him.
In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a JeM suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing around 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.
Read: Subramanian Swamy's blueprint to break terror's backbone in J&K
Read: BCCI to write to ICC, urge cricket community to sever ties with terror nations
Read: Maybe you knew in advance: BJP slams Rahul Gandhi
Read: Donald Trump empathises with India after Pulwama terror attack
India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.
The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.
Trump, after his meeting with a visiting Chinese trade delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He, told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday that "in Kashmir, it's very dangerous".
The President referred to the possibility of a strong response from India in the wake of the terrorist attack.
"India is looking at something very strong. And I mean, India just lost almost 50 people with an attack. So, I could understand that also," he said when asked about India's right to self-defence.
3. India reveals JEM location
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Putting all speculations to rest, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin shared a UN Security Council list dating back to 2001 confirming terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed's location as Pakistan.
"May I jog your memories? To all friends who think that @UN Security Council does not know where the Jaish-e-Mohammed is located, my humble submission is that issue was settled way back in 2001," Akbaruddin tweeted.
JeM, which claimed responsibility for the recent Pulwama terror attack, has been listed as an associated entity of deceased terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in the list.
The October 19, 2001 statement brings attention to paragraph 8 (c) of resolution 1333 (2000) which calls on all states to freeze funds and other financial assets of designated entities, connected to Laden, on the list, in a bid to completely block funding to Laden, who had claimed responsibility for the ghastly 9/11 attacks in the United States.
4. Pak complains to UNSC about India 'threatening'
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Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written a letter to the United Nations Security Council accusing India of threatening regional security, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday, a day after the powerful UN body named Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in a statement condemning the "heinous" Pulwama attack perpetrated by the terror outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.
He also said India is accusing Pakistan for the Pulwama attack without any proof.
"It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from Indian belligerence and threats of use of force against Pakistan. The situation poses a threat to international peace and security," Qureshi said in the letter addressed to UNSC president Anatolio Ndong Mba.
He alleged that India is blaming Pakistan for the Pulwama attack "to cover up its own operational and policy failures".
5. Water wars
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Water of three rivers flowing into Pakistan, over which India has full rights under the Indus Water Treaty, will be diverted to Yamuna river, Union Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, against the backdrop of anger in India over the Pulwama terror attack. The bilateral Treaty, signed in 1960, governs the rights of India and Pakistan on three of the six common rivers, respectively. As per the agreement, India has full rights over Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers while Pakistan has full rights over Jhelum, Chenab and Indus.
“After partition, three rivers each were divided between India and Pakistan. The water of the three rivers over which India has rights was going to Pakistan. We have constructed projects after which the water of these rivers will be diverted to Yamuna river. Once this happens, there will be more water in Yamuna,” Gadkari said at an event here on Thursday.
His statement comes at a time when India is exploring options to "punish" Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack of February 14 in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The suicide bomb attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit, which is based in Pakistan and backed by the Pakistani establishment.
6. Indian Americans protest outside Pak consulate in New York
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A large number of Indian-Americans held a protest in front of Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the UN and its Consulate, strongly condemning the terror attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama and demanding swift action against Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed and its leader Masood Azhar.
Members of the Indian-American community from the New York and New Jersey area raised slogans against Pakistan and carried placards as they waved the Indian tri-colour during the protest outside the Pakistani Consulate and Permanent Mission premises in Manhattan Friday afternoon.
The agitated protestors also waved the Indian tri-colour and the American flag as they demanded justice for the terror attack, saying the deaths of the 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel will not go in vain.
Jagdish Sewhani, President of The American India Public Affairs Committee and one of the organisers of the event, told PTI that through the protest, the message to Pakistan is that "enough is enough. This time we will not forgive and we will not forget".
He said the Pulwama terror attacks is the "final nail in the coffin" for the Pakistani terrorists who have repeatedly targeted India over the years, from the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to the Pathankot and Uri attacks.
He added that the UN Security Council Press Statement condemning the Pulwama attacks has "isolated Pakistan".
He said the Indian-American community urges Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "discontinue all diplomatic relations with Pakistan and give it a reply in the language it understands".
