On the evening of November 10, a Hyundai i20 laden with ammonium nitrate-based explosives detonated near Delhi’s Red Fort, killing 13 people and injuring over 20 in a blast that shattered the winter chill. The explosion, occurring just after police raids in nearby Faridabad, Haryana, exposed a hastily assembled improvised explosive device (IED) that investigators believe was triggered in panic by its occupant, Dr. Mohammad Umar Nabi, a Pulwama native and faculty member at Al-Falah University.

Forensic analysis of the charred remains confirmed Umar’s likely role as the suicide operative, his vehicle traced back to the university campus where it had idled suspiciously for days alongside another car owned by an arrested associate. Prior to the blast, a 15-day joint operation by Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh police, sparked by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) threat posters in Srinagar on October 19, had already dismantled key nodes of a transnational terror network.

Eight arrests followed, including four doctors—Dr. Muzammil Shakeel, Dr. Adil Ahmad Rather, Dr. Shaheen Shahid, and Dr. Sajad Ahmad Malla—all linked to Al-Falah Hospital or University in Faridabad. Raids yielded 2,900 kg of ammonium nitrate, rifles, pistols, timers, and bomb-making components hidden in suitcases and rented rooms, with funding traced via hawala networks and encrypted apps to handlers in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur.

What emerged was no ragtag cell but a “white-collar terror ecosystem", where professionals radicalised via online jihadist forums funnelled arms and ideology from JeM and al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), marking Pakistan’s boldest push into India’s urban core.

Shifting Sands: Pakistan’s Pivot from Valley Insurgency to Urban Infiltration

India’s Operation Sindoor in May 2025—precision missile strikes on nine JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, eliminating over 100 militants, including IC-814 hijacking masterminds—signaled a doctrinal shift: no distinction between terrorists and their state sponsors. Launched in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam massacre that claimed 26 tourist lives, the operation neutralised terror infrastructure without escalating to full........

© News18