The most astounding aspect of the sensational and damning disclosures about the 2019 Pulwama attack made by former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik against the BJP-led government at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the government’s pregnant silence and refusal to act against him. This is in sharp contrast to the Centre’s reaction to Rahul Gandhi’s statements made in the West about the Indian government’s incompetence. In the case of Satya Pal Malik, question is whether he has spoken the truth or made wild, unsubstantiated allegations against the PM, lowering his standing in the international community. Pakistan has reacted to Malik’s allegations by urging the world to take cognizance of the matter. Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch has said that the latest revelations by Malik “demonstrate how the Indian leadership has habitually used the bogey of terrorism from Pakistan to advance its sham victimhood narrative and the Hindutva agenda for domestic political gains.”
Under normal circumstances, India’s voluble External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would have countered Pakistan’s version blaming India for the Pulwama attack in which 40 jawans lost their lives. But, this time through there is no word coming from him. The Pakistani spokesperson even said Malik’s revelations have exposed India’s “propaganda campaign” against Pakistan “based on lies and deceit.”
These are indeed very strong words. This has been possible because of the studied silence being maintained by the government and the PM. The latter should come clean as his name has been dragged into the controversy and India’s reputation is at stake.
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The silence and inaction against the former Governor is in contrast to the lightning speed with which the government in the past slapped charges of sedition and other non-bailable sections on ordinary citizens, social activists and journalists for criticising government actions. Since no action is being initiated against Malik it may be presumed as if he has spoken the truth.
The former Governor said during an interview given to two news outlets that the PM had hid key facts from the public about the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019. He said he had immediately realised that the PM wanted to use the attack to blame Pakistan for the benefit of the BJP for electoral gains. The attack on the Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama, he asserted, was the result of incompetence and carelessness by the Indian system, specifically the CRPF and the Union Home Ministry. He gave details of how the CRPF had asked for aircraft to transport its personnel but was refused by the Home Ministry.
More importantly, he said, all of the lapses were raised by him directly when PM Modi called him. Immediately after, the world was shocked to find the PM taking part in a wildlife video shooting, while the country’s jawans were being butchered. Malik claimed the PM had told him to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing. He further alleged National Security Adviser Ajit Doval also told him to keep mum.
To buttress his claim of intelligence failure in the Pulwama incident, he said a car carrying 300 kilograms of RDX explosives had come from across the border but was travelling around the roads and villages of J&K for 10-15 days without being detected and without anyone knowing. The air can be cleared only through an impartial investigation. It is hardly believable that the former J&K Governor levelled such grave charges for settling scores. If it is so, the government needs to take stern action against him for casting such aspersions on the PM and the Union Home Ministry. The truth should come out and the guilty be punished.
The former J&K Governor did not stop at that. He accused the PM of conniving in corruption too. “I can safely say the PM has no real problem with corruption,” he said. This is a grave charge that assumes greater importance when observed in the backdrop of the multi-billion dollar stock market scam allegedly involving the Adani group. The head of the group, Gautam Adani, is supposedly a close friend of PM Modi and the government has been blocking the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the scam.
The government’s silence would only strengthen the suspicion of wrongdoing at the top since it will be construed as admission of guilt.
