One year of Pulwama terror attack: What happened and how India responded

Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after the convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack

It was around 3.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when their convoy was targeted by the suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama district. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after the convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack.

Nationwide protests erupted against the dastardly terror attack even as the country bid goodbye to its bravehearts. Leaders across the party lines and civil society condemned the attack and called for an appropriate response. “I feel the same fire in my heart that’s raging inside you,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi would declare on February 17, days after thae attack took place.

A day before, he had said that “all tears will be avenged” and the armed forces have been given “full freedom to decide the place, time, intensity and nature of the retaliation against the enemy”. United Nations and several countries from across the globe condemned the Pulwama terror attack and extended their support to India in the fight against terrorism.

China, the “all-weather friend” of Pakistan also backed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the “heinous and cowardly” Pulwama terror attack that was unanimously adopted by permanent and non-permanent member countries of the global body.

Counting of votes underway for bypolls in West Bengal, Uttarakhand

Around 78 per cent of over 700,000 electorate had cast their votes in the by-polls to Kaliaganj, Karimpur and Kharagpur Sadar Assembly seats in West Bengal where 18 candidates were in the fray

Counting of votes for the West Bengal and Uttarakhand by-elections began at 8 a.m. on Thursday amid tight security in polling centres. The final results are expected to be declared by 5 p.m. The Karimpur, Kharagpur Sadar and Kaliaganj Assembly seats in West Bengal and Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh seat went to polls on Monday.

Around 78 per cent of over 700,000 electorate had cast their votes in the by-polls to Kaliaganj, Karimpur and Kharagpur Sadar Assembly seats in West Bengal where 18 candidates were in the fray. BJP state vice-president and the party’s candidate in Karimpur, Jay Prakash Majumdar, was assaulted during polling in the constituency.

The Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur seats fell vacant after the general elections as the sitting MLAs of the two seats Dilip Ghosh (BJP) and Mahua Moitra (TMC) had contested and won Lok Sabha seats. The by-poll at Kaliaganj was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA Parmathanath Roy. Congress nominee Dhitashree Roy, supported by the CPI(M), is pitted against TMC’s Tapan Deb Sinha and BJP’s Kamal Chandra Sarkar at Kaliaganj.

In Karimpur the CPI(M)-Congress candidate Gholam Rabbi is in the reckoning against Majumdar and the ruling TMC’s Bimalendu Singha Roy. In Kharagpur Sadar the contestants are Prem Chandra Jha of BJP, Chittaranjan Mandal of the Congress-CPI(M) alliance and Pradip Sarkar of the TMC…Keep reading