Four suspected JeM terrorists were killed in Nagrota encounter

New Delhi: India has launched a fresh offensive against terror-sponsor Pakistan following the Nagrota encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. India has told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) permanent members that it feels pressure to strike back at Pakistan, as it continues to support terrorist activities.

At a special meeting on Monday, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan handed over a dossier to diplomats from the five UNSC permanent members -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China. The dossier, as per New Delhi, proves Pakistan’s involvement in the terrorist operation foiled in Nagrota.

Last week, four terrorists – hiding and travelling in a truck – were killed in an encounter on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, in Nagrota, on the outskirts of Jammu city. A huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from them, including 11 AK-47 rifles, 29 grenades and 7.5 kilogrammes of RDX.

Top security forces officials have said that the terrorists, who are believed to be members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group and are suspected to have infiltrated into India from Pakistan through a tunnel on the Line of Control, were planning ‘a big attack’.

In fact, the fear is that the terrorists were plotting to target the upcoming District Development Council elections in J&K, the first such big political exercise since the abrogation of Article 370 last year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also held a high-level meeting following the Nagrota encounter and had stated that the four terrorists were plotting "to wreak major havoc" in Kashmir.

At yesterday’s meeting, India shared its concerns with world powers regarding "the implications of the incident (Nagrota encounter) on security, diplomacy and the battle against terrorism".

News agency AFP quoted a diplomatic source as saying that New Delhi told the UNSC envoys it felt "under pressure" to take action over the infiltration that continues to happen along the LoC.

As per news agency ANI, India also provided to heads of missions of UNSC powers a list of items and ammunition seized from the terrorists that indicates these were of Pakistan origin.

The envoys were briefed on how terrorists entered India through the tunnel which was found in the Samba sector.

"It was pointed out how the incident of November 19 is part of Pakistan's ongoing terror campaign in Jammu and Kashmir and that in 2020 itself we have seen 200 incidents of terrorist violence and neutralization of 199 terrorists. Details of JeM's involvement in previous such incidents were also shared," a source said.

Indian security establishment believes the four slain terrorists had been sent from Pakistan to carry out the "biggest" attack since the Pulwama suicide bombing, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in February 2019.

The Pulwama terror attack was also carried out by the JeM, which is led by one of India’s most-wanted terrorist Masood Azhar.