Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concealed key facts from the public about the Pulwama terror attack that killed dozens of paramilitary troops in Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, former J&K governor Satya Pal Malik has revealed.
In an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire news portal that was posted on Friday night, Malik also said that the Prime Minister is "ill-informed" and "has no problem with corruption."
Malik was governor during the Pulwama attack and the scrapping of Article 370 in August that year.
Satya Pal Malik, who was appointed governor of Jammu and Kashmir by the Narendra Modi government, claimed in the interview that the Prime Minister hushed him up by saying "tum abhi chup raho" when he reported that the blame for the Pulwama massacre lay with the Centre.
'Carelessness' by Centre led to the attack
Malik claimed that "incompetence" and "carelessness" on the part of the Indian establishment, notably the CRPF and the home ministry, led to the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama.
He stated that he mentioned all of these errors immediately when Modi contacted him from outside Corbett Park shortly after the Pulwama tragedy. He claimed the prime minister instructed him to be silent and not tell anyone.
Additionally, Malik said that NSA Ajit Doval also ordered him to remain silent and avoid discussing the matter. Malik claimed that he realised right away that the intent was to blame Pakistan and gain political advantage for the BJP and the government.
Serious intelligence failure
Malik further said that there was a serious intelligence failure in the Pulwama tragedy because the car carrying 300 kilogrammes of RDX bombs had arrived from Pakistan and had been driving around the highways and villages of Jammu and Kashmir for 10-15 days without being discovered.
In the interview Malik also explained in detail why he did not allow Mehbooba Mufti to establish a new government despite her claim to a majority of 56 in the 87-member assembly, and instead chose to dissolve the legislature in November 2018.
He claimed he was dismissed as governor of Goa in August 2020 and transferred to Meghalaya because he drew to the prime minister's attention multiple cases of corruption that the administration decided to ignore rather than address.
