Amit Shah pays tribute to 40 CRPF jawans killed in 2019 Pulwama terror attack
Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday paid tribute to the 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who were killed in the terror attack in 2019, at a memorial at Lethpora in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.
J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also laid a wreath at the memorial and paid his tributes to the personnel killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.
On Monday, Amit Shah visited the CRPF camp and interacted with the security personnel at Lethpora. Shah spent the night at the CRPF camp and along with Sinha also had dinner with the paramilitary forces.
“I wanted to spend time with the soldiers of the paramilitary forces, meet them, know their experiences and difficulties and see the spirit to work. That’s why we had lunch with our brave soldiers at Lethpora CRPF camp in Pulwama and will also take rest of the night with the soldiers in the camp.@crpfindia,” tweeted Amit Shah.
Shah said that the law and order situation has improved a lot in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that he was hopeful “we will be able to realise a peaceful Jammu and Kashmir as envisaged by Prime Minister Modi during our lifetime”.
“Stone-pelting incidents are only seen when we try to look for them. There was a time when stone pelting was common in Kashmir. Such incidents have decreased to a huge extent. But, I want to say that there is no need to be satisfied,” Shah said, according to news agency ANI.
“The Narendra Modi government has a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism. We cannot bear it. It is against humanity. It should be our priority to save the people of Kashmir from the persons who are linked to this heinous crime against humanity,” he said.
A suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus — one of the 78 buses in the convoy in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar — leaving 40 CRPF personnel dead. India then launched a counter-terror airstrike against a JeM training camp in Balakot on February 26.
The memorial with the names of all the 40 jawans killed in the attack was inaugurated on February 14, 2020, at CRPF’s Training Centre at the Lethpora camp in Pulwama. The memorial also has their photographs and CRPF’s motto — “Seva and Nishtha” (Service and Loyalty).
The Union home minister, who extended his three-day visit from October 23-25, offered prayers at Kheer Bhawani Durga temple in Ganderbal district earlier on Monday. On Sunday, he visited forward areas at the Makwal border in Jammu and Kashmir with Sinha and interacted with jawans and local residents. He also met with the delegations of Kashmiri Pandits, those from the Gujjar-Bakarwal and Pahadi communities and Jammu and Kashmir Chamber of Commerce in Jammu.
On Saturday, he met families of soldiers and civilians killed this month in a spate of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. This was his first visit to the Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.