Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the Pulwama terror attack, saying the Narendra Modi government had so far "failed to own up the lapses" that led to the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers in Kashmir in February 2019.
"I demand Supreme Court-monitored investigations into the Pulwama terror attack in which our 40 troops were martyred. So far, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have maintained a deafening silence on the tragedy and have failed to own up to the glaring lapses that led to the killings," he told a media conference in Delhi.
Addressing journalists at the Press Club of India, Malik said Modi had not even responded to the grave questions he had raised in April this year about the Pulwama attack.
"I am again saying that the government did not provide aircraft to the CRPF personnel to travel despite several intelligence reports of a possible terror attack. If the aircraft had been provided, the jawans would not have been martyred," he said.
In an interview to The Wire news portal on April 14, Malik had said that when he had, as the then Jammu and Kashmir governor, blamed the 2019 Pulwama massacre on the Centre's own lapses, Modi had told him "tum abhi chup raho (you keep quiet now)".
Neither the PMO nor any other government wing has responded to Malik's claims in the interview till now.
After Malik's allegations, the CBI had issued summons to him for questioning in connection with an alleged health insurance scam in the Union Territory.
The Pulwama attack had taken place eight weeks before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. On February 26, 2019, the Indian Air Force carried out airstrikes in Pakistan's Balakot.
"Modi had politicised the killings of 40 CRPF soldiers and the IAF strikes in Balakot during the Lok Sabha polls and had even asked first-time voters to dedicate their vote to the valiant soldiers who carried out the air strike in Balakot," Malik said on Wednesday.
"It has been over four years since then, but the Modi government has failed to fix accountability. Winning elections is his only priority. The people of this country need to remain alert that similar attacks can happen this time too before the parliamentary polls," Malik said.
As many as 40 CRPF soldiers were killed in the Pulwama massacre on February 14, 2019. Officials had said Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Abdul Ahmed Dar also died in the blast. Dar had been arrested several times by Jammu and Kashmir police but had been released every time.
Sanjiv K. Sood, former additional director-general of the Border Security Force who was also present at Malik’s media conference, said several questions had remained unanswered.
Echoing Malik, he asked why such a large number of CRPF troops — around 2,500 — were not allowed air transport despite a requisition and the security threats highlighted by several intelligence agencies.
Sood said that given the size of the CRPF caravan (78 vehicles), why had the entire route not been sanitised? “How did the explosives weighing over 300kg, including RDX, make their way to the most protected highway in the country despite the presence of highly invasive security surveillance in Jammu and Kashmir?” he asked.
“The country and its people need a clear answer from Modi and his government. He always uses the killings of soldiers for electoral benefits. He must fix accountability for the lapses in Pulwama. We demand a Supreme Court-monitored probe so that the truth is known to the public. PM Modi has so far evaded it,” Sood said.
