THE ‘REAL’ PULWAMA MASTERMIND

Four days after a homegrown suicide bomber blew himself up to kill 40 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel in Pulwama on February 14, media reports cited ‘deep sources’ to declare the slaying of the ‘mastermind’ Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, Jaishe-Mohammed’s chief in the Valley. Ghazi and two others were reported to have been killed in a 17-hour gunfight in Pulwama’s Pinglena village, not far from the spot of the February 14 attack. Five security force personnel, including an army major, died in the fierce encounter. On the day, the security forces claimed the killing of JeM’s chief operational commander “Kamran alias Fahad” and “Rashid alias Gazi, aka Lukaman.” Kamran, they claimed, was the “mastermind of the Pulwama attack”.

Hours later, the JeM put out pictures on social networks, naming the dead militants—two Pakistanis, “Commander Rashid and Ubaid”, and Hilal Ahmad, a local Kashmiri. Ghazi, security officials confirmed to india

today, is still alive and at large. Then, on March 11, a joint army, state police and CRPF operation in Tral’s Pinglish killed two JeM militants. Lt. Gen. Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon claimed that Mudasir Ahmad Khan, aka Mohammad Bhai, was the “main conspirator”, who planned and executed the Pulwama attack. Mudasir was described as a protégé of Noor Mohammad Tantrey, aka Noor Trali, who was killed last year.

The priority, says Lt. Gen. Dhillon, is to render the JeM incapable of repeating a Pulwama-like strike. Towards that goal, 14 of the 18 militants allegedly killed since Pulwama were key JeM fighters.

However, by the end of Dhillon’s press conference on March 11, there was no clarity on who really was the mastermind of Pulwama.