Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a regional Opposition party, on Tuesday said the Supreme Court should take suo motu cognisance and order a probe into the allegations levelled by former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues related to the Pulwama massacre and corruption if the latter or the PMO failed to respond to the charges.
Malik in a recent interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire had alleged that Modi had hushed him up saying “tum abhi chup raho” when he pointed to the lapses that led to the Pulwama massacre in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives on February 14, 2019. He had also said the Prime Minister “does not hate corruption very much” and is “ill-informed”.
Addressing the media here on Tuesday, AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan said they were requesting the Prime Minister to respond to the charges levelled against him by Malik over Pulwama, and issues related to corruption because “these are related to internal security”.
“The PMO or the PM should respond to the charges. They should tell the nation whether the charges are true or lies. If the PM or the PMO does not respond, we will accept the allegations as true.”
Bhuyan added: “We will wait for a few more days for the Prime Minister or the PMO to respond. If they don’t respond, the Supreme Court should take suo motu cognisance of the allegations made by Malik and order a court-monitored probe to find the truth because it involves internal security, whether it isPulwama or corruption.”
The Congress and other Opposition parties are also seeking answers from Modi on Malik’s claims.
In the interview, Malik had claimed that the Union home ministry had refused the CRPF’s request for aircraft to ferry the jawans instead of sending such a large convoy by road.
Malik, who retired as governor of Meghalaya on October 3 last year, said he had called Modi after the attack on the CRPF convoy to tell him that the blame for the massacre lay on the Centre’s own lapses.
“Had we given aircraft then this would not have happened,” Malik had said.
Malik, the then Jammu & Kashmir governor, claimed Modi asked him to keep quiet. “Tum abhi chup raho (You keep quiet now),” Modi had allegedly told him.
