In a major breakthrough, Indian forces have gunned down the mastermind of Pulwama terror attack and commander of Jaish-E-Mohammad (JeM)– Kamran alias Ghazi Rasheed.
The operation was carried out by a joint team of Indian Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve police Force (CRPF) and Special Operation Group. The operation started in the wee hours of Monday, February 18, 2019, and Ghazi was killed in a12-hour long encounter. He was trapped in the Pinglan area of the Pulwama district.
The operation is India’s response to the heinous attack by JeM on a convoy of CRPF personnel on February 14, 2019. The attack killed 40 CRPF soldiers and injured 5 of them. Ghazi was an Afghan war veteran and an expert of Improvised Explosive Device (IED). He was the one who trained Adil Dar – the terrorist who hit the bus carrying CRPF personnel with his SUV, laden with 80 kgs. of RDX.
For the records, he crossed the border on December 9, 2018 and was hiding in Pulwama. Masood Azhar – the founder and leader of JeM gave him the nod from Army Base Hospital in Pakistan, to mastermind and carry-out the Pulwama attack. Masood Azhar wanted to avenge the death of his nephew – Usman, who was killed by security forces in October 2018 in Tral.
For the records, 60 JeMs terrorists are operating in Kashmir. Out of these, 35 are from Pakistan and the remaining are localities.
India to urge FATF and European Commission to blacklist Pakistan
India will urge Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during their plenary meeting in Paris between February 17-22, 2019, to blacklist Pakistan over terrorism funding. The FATF is an inter-governmental body which sets standards and develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Pakistan was grey listed by FATF in June 2018. It was put on notice to be blacklisted by October 2019 if it did not stop terror funding and money laundering. The FAFT will now review the steps taken by Pakistan.
India will also ask the European Commission to blacklist Pakistan. Usually the European Commission blacklists nations whoa are grey listed by FATF.
India asks World to break economic ties with Pakistan
India has requested its allies and key strategic partners to stop making investments in Pakistan, as the latter diverts funds for promoting terrorism.
India has been asking the United States (U.S.) for decades to stop funding Pakistan as the Pakistan Army uses the funds to fund cross-border terrorism.
Support from Iran
India has also received support from Iran which suffered a terror attack by Pakistan based terror organisation, a day ahead of the Pulwama attack. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, one of the branches of Iran’s Armed Forces, has threatened to act against Pakistani security forces for suicide bombing in Sistan-Baluchistan province.
The Minister of External Affairs of India – Sushma Swaraj had met Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran – Seyed Abbas Aragchchi to explore counter-terror partnership in the region.
CCI removes Imran Khan’s portrait
The Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai has removed the portrait of former Pakistan cricket captain and now the Prime Minister, in the wake of the recent Pulwama attack.
His portrait was placed in the prestigious club’s ‘All-rounder restaurant’ along with a Pakistan’s cricket team photograph. Both have now been removed.
