Killed JeM men behind attack in 100 hrs: Army

SRINAGAR: Indian Army’s top commander in Jammu and Kashmir accused Pakistan’s ISI spy agency on Tuesday of “controlling” the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists behind the February 14 attack on a paramilitary convoy, and said that the outfit’s leadership in the Valley had been “wiped out” in an operation.

Lieutenant general Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, addressing a press briefing, also urged Kashmiri mothers to get their militant sons to surrender or see them dead. “...I am happy to inform the country that in less than 100 hours (from Thursday’s attack), we eliminated the JeM leadership, mostly Pakistanis, in the Valley which was being handled by JeM from Pakistan,” he said, referring to an 18-hour gunfight on Monday in which Jaish’s operational commander and two other operatives were killed. The operation also claimed the lives of five Indian security force personnel.

LONDON: A senior MP of the ruling Conservative party on Tuesday joined calls for foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt to retract his conception of Jammu and Kashmir as ‘India-administered Kashmir’ in a statement last week following the Pulwama incident. The incident drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, but riled many over the phrase used, including senior Labour MP Virendra Sharma, who wrote to Hunt. The latest to seek retraction is Bob Blackman, MP from Harrow East. He wrote to Hunt: “In your tweet you refer to the state as ‘India-administered Kashmir’ ... This is, of course, factually incorrect has Jammu and Kashmir has always been an integral part of India since its inception in 1947, it chose to be part of India”.