Bhubaneswar: On 31 December 1999, due to the Kandahar hijack incident India had to release Masood Azhar in Afghanistan. But two months later in March 2000 he reached Bahawalpur in Pakistan and received a grand welcome by the ISI organization in Pakistani. ISI held a rally in which Masood Azhar launched Jaish-e-Mohammed and said that the embers of Jaish-e-Mohammed would separate Kashmir from India. For the first five years of the launch of Jaish-e-Mohammed, it recruited the local Kashmiris and trained them through ISI, led a number of attacks on India, including the Parliament attack.
Then in the coming years, Jaish-e-Mohammed changed its operational model in Kashmir time to time. But the organization had only one top priority that to recruit the young Kashmiris, train them and lead them to attack India. So that the impression would be like the Kashmiris are against India. Pakistan has no involvement in this. Over the years Jaish-e-Mohammed strengthened its feet in Kashmir.
In 2015, Something different happened. The commanders appointed in Kashmir before were in hiding and maintained a low profile. But during this time Burhan Wani introduced a new style of militancy. He was the first militant who used to post on social media openly instead of hiding. He was challenging Indian forces before carrying out attacks. This is the reason he gained popularity in a short span in Kashmir. He was influencing the young Kashmiris in more numbers to join militancy. Jaish-e- Mohammed admired the style of Burhan Vani. But before they could act on it Burhan Wani was killed by Indian army on 8 July, 2016.
Burhan Wani’s death triggered intense tension in Kashmir. At this time, Masood Azhar decided to escalate attacks in Kashmir. While being Pakistan, Masood Azhar relied on five key individuals named Umar Farooq, Usman Haider, Talha Masood, Adul Rashid Ghazi and Ismail Alvi. These were his most trusted operatives. After the death of Burhan Wani, Masood Azhar sent Talha Masood to Kashmir in early 2017 and he was appointed commander in South Kashmir. The main work of Talha was to recruit as many young Kashmiris into Jaish-e-Mohammed and expand Over Ground Worker (OGW) network.
Jaish-e-Mohammed created a strong network of local supporters in Kashmir, those who unwilling to take up arms against Indian army themselves or directly instead they helped other militants by providing shelters, monitoring Indian troops movements, sharing intelligence, handling logistics, arranging safe house etc. These were called the OGW groups. Jaish-e-Mohammed wanted to expand this OGW network as a strong OGW network helps in carrying out attacks much easily. Locals like drivers, shopkeeper ware preferred to be hired because they can move unnoticed while carrying out task for the group.
In 2017, Adil Dar, a crucial figure in Pulwama attack entered to the picture. In the Kakapora araea of Pulwama district in Kashmir, there is a village named Gundibagh, where there is a government higher secondary school. Adil Dar was a student of 12th grade in this school. Adil had two close friends in school, Tauseef and Wasim. Among them, Tauseef was the most radical one as his older brother had joined militancy. So Tauseef was the one who brainwashed both Adil and Wasim against Indian army. One day, Adil was detained by Indian army as a stone pelter while he was coming back from school. The Indian army held him for few days, then released, though the arrest was not completely baseless. Because Adil and his friends had participated in the protest after Burhan Wani’s death and did stone pelting from Kakapora to Lethpora. This is the reason why they were arrested many times, kept in prison for few days then released. Adil was shot in his feet once due to this incidents as well and was on bed rest for several months. As he was in hospital for this injury , he left school. After getting healed, he left school entirely and secondly and most importantly he came in touch with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and joined them. They were also fighting against the Indian government. Side by side, Adil used to work in a wood cutting mill his neighborhood for running his house. During this time Adil met with an electrician named Mudashir Khan. Mudashir was an OGW of Jaish-e-Mohammed. So he influenced Adil to join Jaish-e-Mohammed. At that time Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind was facing ashortage of weapons and resources, so Adil joined Jaish-e-Mohammed.
After few days Indian forces encountered Talha Masood, who was sent by Masood Azhar as a commander in South Kashmir and he was the nephew of Masood Azhar. After this incident Masood Azhar held rallies in Pakistan and declared in public that he would take revenge from the Indian Forces. Then Masood Azhar sent two of his most trusted aids to Kashmir named Ushman and Umar to avenge the death of Talha. Ushman was avery skilled sniper as he could set his target easily from the mobile lights and Umar was the main master mind of the Pulwama attack.
After this Adil and his friends disappeared from their schools on 19 March, 2018. Adil’s family seached for him for days. When they did not find him, thereafter reported in the Kakapora police station, Pulwama. After 10-15 days, in first week of April, a photo of Adil was shared on social media in which he was holding a AK-47. He announced here that he had joined Jaish-e-Mohammed and revealed his codename as Waqas Commando of GundiBagh. When this image surfaced, the Indian Forces did not consider it a major threat and classified him under ‘C’ category of terrorists.
After this, Adil and his friends moved to POK for their specialized training. As part of their training process they had to chose a specific category from two, Istishadi and Inghimasi. Instishadi was for suicide bombers and Inghimasi was for suicide fighter. Adil chose Istishadi categiry. He was trained in bomb making, driving a vehicle loaded with RDX. Adil was the one amonst all harbouring the most amount of hatred towards the Indian Forces and he was the local from the place where Jaish-e-Mohammed wanted to attack. He was ready to be ambushed and being a local , he knew all the spots thoroughly.
After the completion of their training Adil and others crossed the border and entered Kashmir. Adil Dar was selected to execute this attack. According to the plan, Adil would use a car to carry out a VBIED attack on the Army Convoy. Before the attack all the preparations were made with help of the OGW groups. Preparation like the movement of the army convoys, their timings, categories of vehicles used for different army purposes, locations, intensity of army barricades in different ares, assembling bomb and arranging raw materials for it and so on. The attack location was selected on the basis of less security barricades where they can enter an unknown vehicle easily and attack the army convoy. The attack was happened by using a blue car of 2011 model, in which two plastic container could fit in carrying the explosive.
The major reason why Jaish-e-Mohammed selected Adil Dar for this attack was to convey the message that the Kashmiris are against the Indian government and the Indian army, so they are doing such attacks. Pakistan has nothing to do with it. Therefore they had already prepared a video of Adil with M-4 rifle and Jaish-e-Mohammed banner at his back side and Adil confessing to his actions. The car containing the bomb was drove by Adil through Hazibul Bridge towards NH 44. The army convoy was moving from NH 44 when the attacker car hits bus number 5. The blast was extremely massive and huge that blew the whole bus into dust.
In this attack, there were 39 CRPF Jawans martyred including the ASI who was in charge of the security of the Convoy and chasing the attacker’s car. More than 20 soldiers were injured. The car had hit the number 5 bus which was entirely destroyed or turned into ashes, other front and back buses were also damaged. The attack was so massive that it could be heard up to 10km away. The pieces of the buses and body parts of the soldiers flew up to 500-600 meters away.
After rigorous investigation and the collaborative effort of the investigating agencies of India, all the evidences were found that eventually proved the involvement of Pakistan in this attack. All the handlers, members of the OGW, were either arrested or encountered. All the people who were involved in Kashmir were arrested. India conducted air strike , the terrorists were terminated and their camps were blown.
-OdishaAge
