The Pulwama terror case was pieced together the electronic and forensic evidence, and statements of terrorists and their sympathisers arrested in various cases

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an elaborate 13,500-page charge sheet in its probe into one of the most devastating terror attacks that left 40 CRPF personnel dead in South Kashmir’s Pulwama in 2019. The NIA convicted 19 people including Masood Azhar, the chief of banned terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), his brothers Abdul Rauf and Ammar Alvi, and his nephew Mohammed Umer Farooq. Also Read - Pulwama Terror Attack: 13,500-Page Chargesheet Names Masood Azhar, Brother as Key Conspirators, Terrorists Used E-commerce Platforms

What appeared a “blind case” in the beginning was culminated after a year-and-a-half-long “painstaking and meticulous” investigation, piecing together the electronic and forensic evidence, and statements of terrorists and their sympathisers arrested in various cases. Also Read - Pulwama Terror Attack: Masood Azhar, His Brother Rauf Asghar Named as Conspirators in NIA's 5,000-Page Chargesheet

The February 14 blast last year was not a simple conspiracy to decipher. According to officials, Maulana Masood Azhar, along with his brothers Abdul Rauf Asghar and Ammar Alvi, was continuously giving directions and guidance to the Pakistani JeM terrorists both before and after the ‘Fidayeen‘ attack that killed 40 CRPF troopers. Also Read - Mehwish Hayat, Alleged Girlfriend of India's Most Wanted Dawood Ibrahim Had Once Accused Bollywood of Plagiarism | All You Need to Know About Her

Meanwhile, main accused Umer Farooq who had infiltrated into India in April 2018, prepared for the attack on security forces using IEDs with the help of his associates. He was subsequently killed in one of the encounters in South Kashmir.

Here are some of the striking revelations that have come out of the NIA charge sheet:

1. The Pakistani SIM cards used for communication between terrorists were active even after the Pulwama attack. The NIA intercepted WhatsApp messages and the photographs of explosives, including RDX, shared with their handlers in Pakistan. As many as seven people have been arrested from electronic evidence.

2. This is for the first time that the agency has revealed images of the IEDs used in the fatal blast, along with the photographs of all the accused as shared with their handlers in Pakistan.

3. The NIA charge sheet listed a lone woman, 23-year-old Insha Jan, who played a major role in helping the terrorists. According to an NDTV report, she was involved with key conspirator Umer Farooq. The charge sheet also stated that that video released by JeM claiming responsibility for the attack was shot at Insha’s home.

4. The NIA charge sheet also unearthed close links of the Pakistani group JeM with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It revealed that Umer Farooq had been trained at the Sangin camp in Afghanistan’s Helmand province which is infamous for churning as many as 1,000 terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban.

5. The Jaish terrorists had asked their handlers in Pakistan to prepare videos of the Pulwama terror attack that shows mutilated bodies of Indian soldiers to motivate Kashmiri youths to join militant ranks against India. They wanted to start a war between India and Pakistan.

It must be noted that Pakistan, Janus-faced and in denial, has rejected the charge sheet calling it ‘baseless’ with ‘mischievous attempts’ to implicate the neighbouring country’s involvement in the terror attack.

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