New Delhi, April 15, 2023 (PPI-OT):Former governor of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, has blamed Narendra Modi government for the Pulwama incident in 2019 terming it the result of the incompetence of his government and a massive intelligence failure. Satya Pal Malik was Governor of IIOJK when the Pulwama incident happened in February 2019. Over 40 Indian troops were killed when a vehicle laden with explosive hit one of the buses of a convoy of Indian Central Reserve Police Force in Pulwama on February 14, 2019. Political analysts and many Indian politicians had said that the Pulwama incident was orchestrated by Narendra Modi government to win elections.

Satya Pal Malik revealed in an interview that the ‘attack’ on the CRPF convoy was a result of “incompetence” and “laparvahi” by the Indian system and specifically the CRPF and the home ministry. At that time, Rajnath Singh was the home minister. Satya Pal said that the CRPF had asked for aircraft to transport its troops but was refused by the Indian home ministry. He also spoke of how sanitisation of the route was not done effectively. More importantly, he said, all of these lapses were raised by him directly when Modi called him from outside Corbett Park shortly after the incident. He said the prime minister told him to keep quiet about this and not tell anyone. Separately, Satya Pal said that NSA Ajit Doval also told him to keep quiet and not talk about it. He said he immediately realised that the intention was to put the blame on Pakistan and derive electoral benefit for the government and the BJP.

The former IIOJK Governor also said, there was grave intelligence failure in the Pulwama incident because the “car carrying 300 kilograms of RDX explosives was travelling around the roads and villages of Jammu and Kashmir for 10-15 days without being detected and without anyone knowing.” Satya Pal’s interview with noted Indian journalist Karan Thapar drew sharp criticism from opposition parties in India. The Congress party, on its official Twitter page, repeated the claims made by him, and accused Modi of “suppressing” the incident to “save” his personal image ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“Narendra Modi Ji, the Pulwama attack is because of the mistake of your government. If our jawans had got the aircraft, the plot would have failed. You had to take action for this mistake and you not only suppressed this matter but also started saving your image. The country is shocked to hear Satya Pal Malik’s statement on Pulwama,” the post in Hindi said. Congress Party MP and former Union minister, Manish Tewari, called the revelations made by Satya Pal “very very disturbing”. On Twitter, he wrote, if what the former Governor is saying is correct it is very disturbing to say the least. It will play out very badly in the international arena, he added. Another Congress leader and the party spokesperson, Salman Anees Soz, called it “massive revelations”. In a tweet, he said, the interview of Satya Pal Malik leaves no doubt that Rajnath Singh should have at the very least resigned after Pulwama. Also, the security lapses are an indictment of the NSA, Ajit Doval aka James Bond. “Massive revelations”, he added.

The president of the Congress’ party’s youth wing, B.V. Srinivas, highlighted the silence of “nationalist Indian media channels” on holding prime-time debate on Satya Pal Malik revelations. He said, how many nationalist Indian media channels are debating prime-time on the big revelations made by former IIOK Governor and BJP leader Satya Pal Malik about the truth of the Pulwama attack? Anyone??” Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Member of Rajya Sabha (upper house of Indian Parliament), Manoj Kumar Jha, also shared The Wire ‘s interview on his Twitter page. The Samajwadi Party’s spokesperson, Manoj Singh Kaka, also referred to the “incompetence” of the Modi government in preventing the Pulwama incident from happening. He said that when the soldiers of CRPF asked for aircraft, why was it not given? He said who is responsible for killing of the soldiers? Supreme Court lawyer, Prashanth Bhushan, also took to Twitter to describe the interview as “deadly”.

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