IslamabadI:Pakistan, in a startling admission, on Thursday confessed that the Pulwama terror attack in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019, was carried out by them.
''We went inside India and hit them, the success that we had in Pulwama (February 2019), it is a victory for this nation under the leadership of Imran Khan, we are all stakeholders in that victory,'' Pakistan Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary said during the Pakistan's national Assembly, proving Pakistan's support for terrorism inside India.
On February 14, 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 Force personnel were martyred.
The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. The attacker was identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, a local from Pulwama district, and a member of the banned terror outfit JeM.
Avenging the martyrdom of 40 personnel, the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan's Balakot in the early hours of February 26, 2019, targeting JeM's terror training camps.Two days later, Pakistan attacked Indian military installations on February 28.
During the aerial engagement between the two countries, IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman's aircraft was shot down and he ejected himself into the Pakistan side, where the forces captured him. After intense diplomatic and military pressure by India, Pakistan handed back the captured pilot.
Mr Chaudhry was responding to another lawmaker Ayaz Sadiq's remarks, who had claimed that Army Chief General Bajwa was pleading to release Abhinandan, fearing a strong retaliation from the Indian side.