Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik demands Supreme Court-supervised probe into Pulwama attack
Malik alleges Modi government has failed to acknowledge lapses that led to deaths of 40 CRPF soldiers
Satya Pal Malik, a former governor of Jammu and Kashmir, asked on Wednesday that the Pulwama terror incident be subject to a Supreme Court-supervised investigation. He claimed that the Narendra Modi administration had thus far "failed to own up the lapses" that resulted in the deaths of 40 CRPF soldiers in Kashmir in February 2019.
"I demand that the Pulwama terror incident, in which our 40 troops lost their lives, be the subject of investigations overseen by the Supreme Court. At a press conference in Delhi, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his administration have so far kept a deafening silence over the tragedy and have refused to acknowledge the obvious mistakes that caused the fatalities.
Speaking to reporters at the Press Club of India, Malik claimed that Modi had not even addressed the serious inquiries he had made regarding the Pulwama attack in April of this year.
"I am stating once more that despite several intelligence reports indicating a potential terror assault, the government did not provide planes for the CRPF soldiers to travel. The jawans would not have been sacrificed, he claimed, if the aircraft had been available.
Malik claimed in an interview with the news outlet The Wire on April 14 that Modi had urged him to "keep quiet now)" after he had blamed the 2019 Pulwama atrocity on the Centre's own mistakes while serving as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
To yet, neither the PMO nor any other branch of the government has reacted to Malik's assertions from the interview.
The CBI had summoned him for questioning in relation to an alleged health insurance scam in the Union Territory as a result of Malik's allegations.
Eight weeks have passed since the tragedy in Pulwama, which preceded the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes at Pakistan's Balakot on February 26, 2019.
During the Lok Sabha elections, "Modi had politicized the deaths of 40 CRPF soldiers and the IAF strikes in Balakot and had even requested that first-time voters dedicate their vote to the brave soldiers who carried out the air strike in Balakot," Malik said on Wednesday.
Since then, more than four years have passed, yet the Modi administration has failed to improve accountability. His primary concern is winning the election. Before the legislative elections, similar incidents could occur again, thus the citizens of this nation must be vigilant, according to Malik.
The Pulwama tragedy on February 14, 2019, resulted in up to 40 CRPF soldiers dying. Abdul Ahmed Dar, a terrorist of Jaish-e-Mohammed, was also reported dead by officials. Jammu and Kashmir police had previously detained Dar on multiple occasions, but each time, he had been freed.
Several questions, according to Sanjiv K. Sood, a former additional director-general of the Border Security Force who attended Malik's press conference.
Like Malik, he questioned why 2,500 CRPF soldiers — despite a request and security risks noted by numerous intelligence agencies — were not permitted to travel by air.
Sood questioned why the entire route hadn't been sanitized considering the size of the CRPF caravan (78 trucks). Despite the existence of very intrusive security surveillance in Jammu and Kashmir, he questioned how the bombs weighing more than 300kg, including RDX, managed to reach the nation's most fortified roadway.
"Modi and his administration must provide a definitive response to the nation and its citizens. He consistently exploits the deaths of soldiers for political gain. He needs to establish responsibility for the mistakes in Pulwama. In order for the people to know the truth, we seek a probe that is overseen by the Supreme Court. PM Modi has avoided it thus far, according to Sood.
