India hunts Pulwama mastermind
INTERIOR MINISTRY ISSUES ADVISORY TO STATES TO ‘ENSURE THEIR SAFETY’
Indian forces have detained 23 men suspected of links to the Pakistan-based militant group that masterminded the bombing of an Indian security convoy that killed 49 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.
Representatives of India’s National Investigating Agency questioned the suspects about the bombing in Pulwama yesterday, 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.
Mohammad Umair, the commander of the Jaish in Kashmir who is believed to have plotted the attack, is suspected to be hiding in the region where the attacks took place, the officials said.
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India has warned against rising communal tensions across the country as Kashmiris living outside their state faced property evictions, job suspensions and attacks on social media after a suicide bomber killed 49 paramilitary troops in the region
The car bomb attack on a security convoy on Thursday, claimed by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad and carried out by a 20-yearold Kashmiri man, was the worst in decades of insurgency in the disputed area.
As the bodies of the paramilitary policemen who died in the attack were returned to families across India this weekend, passionate crowds waving the Indian flag gathered in the streets to honour them and shouted demands for revenge. Pakistan has denied any role in the killings.
Facing a backlash
Kashmiri Muslims, meanwhile, are facing a backlash in the country, mainly in the northern states of Haryana and Uttarakhand, forcing the federal Interior Ministry to issue an advisory to all states to “ensure their safety and security and maintain communal harmony”.
Aqib Ahmad, a Kashmiri student in Uttarakhand capital Dehradun, said the owner of the house he was staying in had asked him to move out fearing an attack on his property. Rates for air tickets to Kashmir have skyrocketed as tensions escalate, he said.
Local media reported that some Kashmiri students were assaulted by members of rightwing groups in Uttarakhand.
Police in Jammu and Kashmir (J & K) state said they were providing temporary accommodation ■ to people returning to Kashmir. The police urged Kashmiris to contact their hotline for “speedy assistance in case they face any difficulties/ harassment”.
Fear has engulfed Kashmiri students in Haryana’s Ambala district after a video on social media showed a village headman asking people to evict Kashmiri students in the area.
“In case it is not done, the person in whose residence such students are living will be considered as a traitor,” the man says in the video, whose authenticity has not been independently verified.
A Facebook user named Anshul Saxena, meanwhile, has claimed credit for getting people fired or suspended for posts he calls “anti-national”. ■