Modi, Doval silenced me on Pulwama attack lapses: Satya Pal Malik

New Dehli, The Gulf Observer: Satya Pal Malik, the last Governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir who oversaw heightened times that include the abrogation of Article 370, stated in an interview that the Prime Minister squelched him by saying “tum abhi chup raho” when he as governor reported that the Centre’s own mistakes were to blame for the Pulwama massacre.

Malik also said that the Prime Minister is ‘ill-informed’ and ‘does not hate corruption very much’ in an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire news portal that was posted on Friday night

Malik mentioned the bombing of the CRPF convoy in Pulwama in February 2019 which claimed the lives of 40 jawans and was turned into an election issue by the BJP in the interview.

“CRPF members requested an aircraft to transport their members because such a sizable convoy seldom travels by road. They enquired the home ministry. They refused to give. They only required 5 aircraft, but they weren’t provided with any,” Malik said.

He recalled the Prime Minister calling him on the evening of February 14, 2019, from outside the Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.

I told it to the PM the same evening. This is our fault. Had we given aircraft then this would not have happened. (To that), he told me, “Tum abhi chup raho….’ I had already said this to a couple of channels. He said, ‘Yeh sab mat bolo, yeh koi aur cheez hai. Hame bolne do….’

Malik also said that the National security advisor Ajit Doval also asked him to stay quiet. “Yeh sab mat boliye. Aap chup rahiye

(Don’t say all this. Stay quiet)….’ Mujhe lag gaya tha ki ab yeh sara onus Pakistan ke taraf jana hai toh ‘chup rahiye’ (I felt that the onus would now be shifted to Pakistan, so ‘stay quiet’),” Malik said.

He said that none of the link roads to the highway where the convoy was travelling had been blocked, blaming the CRPF and the Union home ministry.

It was 100% an intelligence failure, the former governor stated. He further stated that the vehicle that crashed into the convoy was travelling through the nearby villages for 10–12 days prior to the explosion while carrying an estimated 300kg of explosives without being seen.

He claimed that even though Pakistan was the only place where such a massive amount of explosives could have arrived, the deaths were due to these security failings.

When the interviewer asked the former Governor if the Prime Minister used the Pulwama issue for the sake of the general elections, Satyapal Malik just smiled. “Ha ya Na.. kuch nahi kar raha hu,” he added.

Malik stated that while not being informed beforehand of the Modi administration’s intention to revoke the state’s special status, he was aware of it because it had been discussed and was on the agenda.

Just a day before (the abrogation of special status under Article 370), I got a call from the home minister saying he was sending me a letter that I needed to get passed by the committee and send by 11 a.m. the next day, Malik explained.