Pakistan continues to evade responsibility of Pulwama attack, shelters Masood Azhar: India

In a virtual media address, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the charge sheet in the Pulwama attack has been filed after investigation of a year and a half since the incident took place on Feb14, 2019.

"It has been filed to address the act of terrorism and to bring perpetrators of such a heinous crime to justice. Our aim is not to simply issue statements or notifications," Srivastava said.

He mentioned that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had claimed the responsibility of Pulwama attack. 

Srivastava slammed Pakistan for evading the responsibility despite enough evidence being shared with Islamabad.

"The organization and its leadership is in Pakistan. It is regrettable that Masood Azhar, the first accused in the charge sheet continues to find shelter in Pakistan. Enough evidence has been shared with Pakistan but it continues to evade responsibility," he said.

"Pakistan has not yet taken any credible action against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack of 2008 which resulted in loss of 165 innocent lives including 25 foreign nationals," Srivastava added.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) named Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Asghar as the key conspirators behind the 2019 terror attack in Pulwama, in its charge-sheet filed on Tuesday.

On February 14 last year, Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Adil Ahmad Dar rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the CRPF convoy at Lethpora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing 40 CRPF jawans.