Narendra Modi told me to stay silent about lapses that led to Pulwama attack, claims ex-J&K governor

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik claimed on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him not to speak about lapses that led to the terror attack at Pulwama in 2019, The Wire reported.

Malik said that the attack took place due to the incompetence and negligence of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Union home ministry, which was then headed by Rajnath Singh.

On February 14, 2019, an explosive-laden car driven by a suicide bomber rammed into a bus carrying CRPF personnel, killing 40 of them in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Pakistani terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Malik on Friday claimed that the CRPF had asked for aircraft to ferry their personnel, because “such a big convoy does not travel by road”. The convoy comprised 78 vehicles that were transporting over 2,500 personnel.

“They only needed five aircraft, but these were not provided to them,” the former governor told The Wire. “I told the prime minister on the same evening that this [the attack] took place because of our mistake. If we had provided them with aircraft, this would not have happened. But he asked me to stay silent about it.”

Malik claimed that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also asked him not to speak about the matter.

The former Jammu and Kashmir governor also alleged that the convoy’s route had not been sanitised properly.

“There are eight to ten link roads on that route...specifically in that area,” he said. “These link roads should be manned so that no one can enter the route. But all of them were unmanned.”

Malik also claimed that a car carrying 300 kilograms of explosives had been travelling around Jammu and Kashmir for ten to fifteen days before the attack, but remained undetected. He termed this a grave intelligence failure.

Citing the interview, the Congress said on Twitter that the Pulwama attack took place because of the Modi government’s mistake. “You [Modi] should have taken action on this mistake, but you suppressed this fact and set about trying to save your image,” it said. “The country is stunned to hear Satya Pal Malik’s words.”

Dissolution of the Assembly in 2018

Malik on Friday also stuck to his earlier claim that he had not received a letter from Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti staking claim to form the government in November 2018 as there was no one to check the fax machine.

Mufti had claimed that she had the support of the National Conference and the Congress and staked claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Hours after she tweeted that she had the support of the two parties, Malik dissolved the state Assembly on November 21, 2018.

The former governor on Friday claimed that there was no one in his office to receive her faxed letter staking claim to form the government as it was a holiday on account of Eid-e-Milad.

“Mehbooba Mufti had other ways to reach me other than through fax,” Malik said. “She could have sent someone, or even sent the letter to someone from her own party.”

‘PM Modi doesn’t hate corruption much’

During Friday’s interview, the former Jammu and Kashmir governor also claimed that Modi “does not hate corruption much”.

He claimed that he was removed as governor of Goa in August 2020 and sent to Meghalaya after he raised several instances of corruption with the prime minister. Malik served as the governor of the state from November 2019 to August 2020.

Malik also alleged that the people around the prime minister are involved in corruption and often use his office’s name.

“I can safely say that the prime minister does not hate corruption much,” he said. “An important bit of evidence for this is from the time when I told him about low-level corruption that was taking place in Goa. On the third day, he called me and told me that my information was not correct.”

The former governor also alleged that appointments granted by President Droupadi Murmu are also vetted by the prime minister’s office.