The Centre on Wednesday informed Parliament that the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed was not the fallout of intelligence failure.

Replying to a question, junior home minister G. Kishan Reddy told the Rajya Sabha that there was no intelligence failure that could have led to the suicide attack on the CRPF convoy.

Syed Nasir Hussain of the Congress had asked three questions: whether the reason for Pulwama terror attack was failure of intelligence; if so, what caused the intelligence failure; and how could a car carrying 300kg of explosives enter a highway.

Reddy’s reply to the first question was “No Sir”. The second answer said: “Does not arise.”

In reply to the third question, the junior home minister said: “Jammu and Kashmir is affected by terrorism sponsored and supported from across the border for the last three decades. Owing to the policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and sustained action against terrorists by the security forces, a large number of terrorists have been neutralised during the past few years.”

All agencies, Reddy said, are working in a “coordinated manner and the intelligence inputs are shared among various agencies on real-time basis”.

According to the minister, the probe by the National Investigation Agency had resulted in the identification of the Pulwama conspirators, the suicide attacker and the person who had provided the vehicle.

On February 14, around 2,500 CRPF personnel, who had been held up because of inclement weather, were being ferried on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Many had questioned the decision to move so many personnel together, thus providing a large target, and how an explosives-laden car could enter a security forces’ convoy on the most protected highway in the country.

Reddy’s reply to Parliament was in contrast to Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik’s observation that the terror attack was partly the result of intelligence failure. Malik, the head of the state administration now that central rule is in place in Jammu and Kashmir, had conceded lapses on the part of the state administration and the security forces.

India had carried out air strikes at Balakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 12 days after the Pulwama attack.