Pulwama Attack, 2019; The Stark Realities
The infamous and brutal attack by the terrorist youth Adil Ahmed Dar (affiliated with the militant group Jaish-i-Muhammad) in Pulwama wherein dozens of soldiers of the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) in India were martyred was the first major war-like activity between Pakistan and India since the Kargil War in 1999. As we approach the anniversary of this blood-stained event, it is imperative to make clear the myths and fallacies surrounding it, as well as bringing to light all the important facts regarding this fiasco.
The beginning of this whole fiasco started on February 14, 2019 when the militant group affiliate Kashmiri Youth, Adil Ahmad committed a suicide bombing by driving an explosives-laden SUV into the convoy carrying 2,500 CRPF officers from Jammu to Srinagar. This attack took place in the Pulwama district of Kashmir and led to the brutal deaths of around 44 CRPF officers and several others were left seriously injured. The convoy carrying the officers had been help up in Jammu district due to heavy snow up until February 4th. 16 buses of the 78-bus convoy disbanded the convoy at Qazigund as they had reached their destination. However, 16 new buses carrying officers joined this convoy to protect from terrorist activities along the way. At Latoomode of Awantipora in Pulwama, an explosive laden vehicle entered the Jammu-Srinagar highway from a left by-lane. The SUV exploded and destroyed the fifth and sixth bus of the convoy, killing 39 people in the fifth, one in the sixth and several other officers in the sixth bus were left brutally injured. This is the first time that a CRPF convoy was ever attacked by indigenous terrorists.
The first course of action that the Indian government decided to take was to label the act of terrorism as a ploy by Pakistan to weaken the military action of India in Kashmir. Pakistan, of course, denied these involvements and has remained true to the policy that they had beforehand taken regarding the terrorist group Jaish-i-Muhammad that it was a non-state recognized militant group to which the Pakistani government has no ties nor does it condone any of the actions it commits. Regardless, great outrage among the Indian people surfaced with the majority of the nation calling for an outright declaration of war or some sort of retaliation among this perceived Pakistani attack. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi shared these sentiments in an address and said: “All tears will be avenged and the armed forces have been given full freedom to decide the place, time, intensity and nature of the retaliation against the enemy. I feel the same fire in my heart that’s raging inside you”
At the time, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, launched a public address that denied Pakistan’s involvement with the terrorist attack and pledged his sympathies to those struck by the barbaric bombing. He said that Pakistan had no viable pross or benefits to avail as a result of conducting such an operation and that India should stop labeling Pakistan as a terrorist country as we are the country most ruined by terrorism. He stated that 75,000 people have been victims of terrorism in Pakistan and it unjust to label all Pakistanis as terrorists. He also stated that the only way forward was through peaceful dialogues and policy making. Fawad Chaudhary, on the other hand, who was the Minister of Science and Technology in Imran’s cabinet, described Pulwama attack as a success by their government in landing a heavy blow to the Indian power in Kashmir. This effectively laid to waste Imran’s previous address and made matters more severe.
A few days after this attack, on February 26th in the early hours of the day, the IAF launched an attack on the JeM camp in Balakot in the KPK province of Pakistan. Unfortunately for India, in the counter-attack air strike by Pakistan just two days after this initial bombing by the IAF, Indian Captain Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down and held captive by the Pakistan Army. There have been several video footages of Abhinandan in Pakistani custody, each of which bear a different connotation to each other. Regardless, this was seen as a foiled attempt by the Indian Air Force in launching a full-frontal attack against Pakistan in retaliation of the terrorist activity that India alleged Pakistan was responsible for.
After the official statement was taken from him by officers of Pakistan Army, Abhinandan was returned back to India in return for a Pakistani pilot that was shot down during the whole exchange of blows in the air. The Pakistani and Indian nations alike regarded this decision as a wrong step and demanded that the governments take a stricter stance against each of the country’s pilots.
The Indian government and the army regarded both these strikes by the IAF as well as the deployment of its naval forces including an aircraft carrier and submarine forces as mere “non-military pre-emptive counter-terror strikes” and routine drill operations. There were also news of a submarine being deployed at the shores of the Arabian Sea. The Pakistan Navy deployed on the Makran coast effectively held these naval forces and bay and prevented a repeat of the Balakot bombings on the southern coast of the country. In the end, these “retaliatory actions” as PM Modi put them were thwarted and the matters were resolved in the way they always should have been, through negotiations.
In the end, we have to realize that these events were blown out of proportion for a few reasons. One, the elections for the national assembly were very near and Modi and the rest of the BJP party had to take a strong stance and incite mob rule within the Indian nation to fuel their parties’ slogan. Two, the overwhelming amount of hatred and animosity that is already present between the two nations which is easy to capitalize on. And three, the sensitive issue of Kashmir. This event helps us to understand the ways that the Indian government tries to fuel their own narratives and paint Pakistan as the bad guy in each scenario; playing with the sentiments of the Indian people in the meanwhile. We must aid each other in understanding that both states face the same challenges and are a frequent victim of terrorist attacks. So before pointing fingers, we can use this event as a benchmark for understanding both the motives behind terrorist activities, the capitalization on these events by the Indian government, as well as minimizing the damage that these two things cause.
The writer is currently studying at International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI).