Kashmir bomb attack ratchets up tension
INDIAN forces have detained 23 men suspected of links to a Pakistan-based militant group that masterminded the bombing of an Indian security convoy that killed 44 paramilitary police, a top police official said yesterday.
The 23 men included members and sympathisers of Jaish-e-Mohammad, the militant group which has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack, the deadliest on Indian security forces in decades.
The attack has fuelled tensions between India and Pakistan.
India has demanded Pakistan close down Jaish and other Islamist militant groups that operate from its soil, while Islamabad has rejected suggestions that it was linked to the attack.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan, but ruled in part by both.
Representatives of India’s National Investigating Agency questioned the suspects about the bombing, two security officials said.
“They are trying to reach out to the top commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad, including its Kashmir chief,” one of the sources said.
Mohammed Umair, the commander of the group in Kashmir, and who is believed to have plotted the attack, is thought to be hiding in the region where the attacks took place, the officials said.
The officials say Umair had “radicalised and motivated” the Kashmiri school dropout who rammed a car laden with explosives into the convoy on Thursday.
Umair is thought to have entered Indian Kashmir from Pakistan in September to head the group in the region. Security forces believe he is in hiding in southern Kashmir, according to the officials, who could not be named as a matter of policy.
Indian officials say Umair is a nephew of the chief of the Jaish, Masood Azhar, who is believed to be in Pakistan.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a strong response to the attack and says he has given the military a free hand to tackle cross-border militancy.
The Jaish, considered to be one of the most lethal militant groups, has expanded its presence in Kashmir, the police officer said.
India has raided the houses of suspected militants across South Kashmir to find information on those who masterminded and executed the attack.
Muzaffar Ahmad Malik, whose brother declared himself a militant a year ago, said that his house had been raided by Indian troops on Saturday.
“They were looking for militants, as they said they had information about militants hiding in the house,” Malik said. Investigators are now trying to figure out how a large quantity of explosives used in the attack was smuggled into Kashmir.
As India considers its response to the bombing, a retired military commander who oversaw a strike against Pakistan in 2016, has urged caution.
Lieutenant-General DS Hooda, said that while “some kind of limited (military) strike (against Pakistan) is more than likely”, he hoped for “rethinking and reconciliation” from all sides in the conflict.
Considering the state of affairs in Kashmir, he said, he wasn’t surprised by the bombing.
Meanwhile, residents of Kashmir observed a shutdown yesterday in protest against attacks on Kashmiri people in several parts of India after the deadly bomb attack ratcheted up tensions in the disputed region.
Police confirmed incidents of vehicles being set on fire and attacks on a settlement of Kashmiri workers in Jammu town on Friday, a day after 40 paramilitary troopers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on the highway between Jammu and Srinagar.
Local media also reported that Kashmiri students were being threatened in towns including Dehradun and Pune. The Jammu and Kashmir Police have set up a telephone helpline for students across the country.