Associated Press SRINAGAR, India – India’s prime minister warned Friday of a “crushing response” to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir which killed 41 people and was the deadliest in the divided region’s volatile history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday’s bombing squarely on neighboring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir. “Our neighboring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize,” he said, adding that government forces have been “given total freedom” to deal with the militants. “Security forces have been given permission to take decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response,” he said. Pakistan’s ruling party rejected Modi’s allegation, saying India’s ruling party was blaming Pakistan for the attack for political gains in the upcoming national election. “The Indian allegations against Pakistan over yesterday’s incident are part of the election campaign,” said Naeemul Haq, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which came to power in last year’s parliamentary election. He said the violence in Kashmir was “the result of the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Kashmir.” The attack has ratcheted up already high tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but each claim it entirely. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Friday that New Delhi was withdrawing the most-favored nation trade status given to Pakistan and would take all possible diplomatic steps “to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident.” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world and denied any involvement. “We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations,” it said in a statement. Rebels, many of whom want Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989. But the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhi’s rule with a mixture of violence and social media. In Thursday’s attack, a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a bus traveling in the paramilitary convoy. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said. Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged. The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades. Authorities suspended movement of security convoys in the Kashmir valley on Friday and Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar to review the security situation. The attack has raised tensions elsewhere in Hindu-majority India. Hundreds of residents carrying India’s national flag in Hindu-dominated Jammu city in the Muslim-majority state burned vehicles and hurled rocks at homes in Muslim neighborhoods, officials said. Authorities imposed a curfew and appealed for restraint. Some people were reported injured in the mob attacks. Nearly 100 protesters chanting slogans such as “Pakistan down, down!” and “Attack Pakistan, Attack,” burned an effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a park close to India’s Parliament in New Delhi. They later dispersed. The U.S. singled out Pakistan in a statement condemning the attack. “The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region,” the statement from the White House press secretary’s office said. It said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation with India. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and regularly exchange fire along their highly militarized border in Kashmir. Indian soldiers are ubiquitous in Kashmir and local residents make little secret of their fury toward their presence in the Himalayan region. Most Kashmiris support the rebels’ demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control. Since 1989, about 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. Last year’s death toll was the highest since 2009, with at least 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150 government forces killed.<doc-sep>The Pulwama terror attack on a CRPF convoy on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir was the biggest terrorist incident in India in the past five years. (Photo: The Associated Press) The attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district that killed at least 40 jawans on Thursday (February 14) is the biggest terror attack in the past five years. However, data released by the Narendra Modi government on February 5, 2019 reveal that Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing regular terror attacks in the past five years. The data recently released by the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that between 2014 and 2018, there has been a 93 per cent rise in the number of security personnel killed in terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides this, these five years also saw a 176 per cent rise in the number of terrorist incidents in the state. In this period, the state suffered a total of 1,708 terrorist incidents (on an average, the 28 terrorist incidents every month for five years), the government data reveal. This information was released in the Lok Sabha in a written reply by the Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir. The home ministry said that in 2014, there were 222 terrorist incidents in the state. This figure saw a marginal decrease the next year (2015) when there were 208 such incidents. However, since 2016, the number of terrorist incidents has seen an upward trend. For example, the number of terrorist incidents in Jammu & Kashmir rose by 54.8 per cent in 2016, six per cent (342 incidents) in 2017, and 79.53 per cent (614 incidents) in 2018. In fact, the year 2018 saw nearly 51 terrorist incidents every month. A rising trend was also observed in the number of people who were killed in terrorism-related activities in Jammu & Kashmir in these five years. Between 2014 and 2018, a total of 1,315 people were killed in the state due to terrorism. Of these, 138 (10.49 per cent) were civilians, 339 (25 per cent) security personnel, and 838 (63.72 per cent) were terrorists. The home ministry’s reply reveals that there has been a rise in deaths in all three categories (civilians, security personnel and terrorists). Between 2014 and 2018, the number of civilians killed in Jammu & Kashmir has risen by 35.71 per cent; number of security persons killed has increased by 93 per cent; and the number of terrorists killed has seen a rise of 133.63 per cent. 11 terrorists infiltrate into J&K every month In another written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Union home ministry on February 13 said that between 2016 and 2018, close to 400 terrorists infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir. On an average, this breaks down to 11 terrorists infiltrating into the state every month in the past three years. According to the government data, the highest number of infiltrations into Jammu and Kashmir took place in June 2018 when 38 terrorists were estimated to have entered the state. This was followed by September 2016 and May 2017, the two months when 25 terrorists infiltrated into J&K. Between January 2016 and December 2018, there were only three months when no infiltrations took place in the state. In the same reply, the government also said that it was able to arrest 56 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. (Note: The earlier version of this report said the death toll in Pulwama attack was 37. As per the official figures, the death toll now has increased to 40. The report has been accordingly updated.) 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The ghastly terrorist attack on Indian soil has left the world shocked and Pakistan was condemned unanimously by global leaders. | Photo Credit: IANS New Delhi: The Pakistan backed terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Thursday claimed lives of at least 37 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers in in Jammu and Kashmir’s Awantipora, Pulwama district. The ghastly terrorist attack on Indian soil has left the world shocked and Pakistan was condemned unanimously by global leaders. Meanwhile at home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a meeting with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CSS) comprising of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj among others to chalk out a befitting reply to the shameful assault on India. Here are the 5 key developments in the Pulwama Terrorist Attack: United States of America condemns Pakistan White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders condemned the dastardly attack on the CRPF soldiers in Pulwama and said that Pakistan was supporting terrorist groups and providing them safe haven – a practise that it should end with immediate effect. According to news agency PTI Sanders said, “This attack only strengthens our resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation and coordination between the United States and India.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs CSS meeting The Cabinet Committee on Security (CSS), the most powerful body of the government on matters pertaining to India’s security, met on Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself being at the helm. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were among the decision-makers in the meeting that mulled over a befitting response to terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). PM Modi put all his political events on hold for the day in the aftermath of the cowardly attack in Jammu and Kashmir that saw at least 37 soldiers being martyred. Terrorist Adil Ahmad Dar lived barely 10 kilometres from attack site Terrorist Adil Ahmad Dar, the bomber who orchestrated and executed the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy, was also known as ‘Adil Ahmad Gaadi Takranewala’. The 22-year-old resident of Pulwama’s Kakapora area was radicalised by the JeM after he got influenced by Taliban ideologies. He had dropped out of school after Class 12 in 2017 and was well aware of the surroundings of the attack site as he lived around 10 kilometres from there. Pakistan continues to provoke; another ceasefire violation on Friday Provoking India further, Pakistan on Friday violated ceasefire along the border in Mendhar sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. This is even more alarming as Pak-supported JeM has swiftly claimed the responsibility of Thursday's Pulwama terrorist attack, daring India to take action. In such sensitive environment, the ceasefire violation is not been taken lightly by the Indian Army. Pakistan Prime Minster Imran Khan in the dock The terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir has also raised eyebrows over the role of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the premier Pakistan spy agency. Moreover, Pakistan Prime Minister is under tremendous pressure from world community to stop harbouring terrorists on its soil. "The self-proclaimed involvement of JeM in the attack raises serious questions about the role of the ISI in supporting the masterminds of this operation," Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst, told PTI. Even though Pakistan has termed the terrorist attack an issue of ‘grave concern’, it has so far not done anything substantial to hold the perpetrators accountable for the dastardly attack.