Pulwama blast attack scene of February 14, 2019

By Aravind Bhatikar

SATYALPAL Malik, a rare politician, straightforward and outspoken, in a recent no-holds-barred interview to Karan Thapar in “The Wire” the following explosive revelations. In normal times, such revelations would have made shrieking headlines. But these are abnormal times! We have not seen or heard even whimpering news.
The terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama district of J&K in 2018 was partly due to the mistake committed by the Home Ministry and the negligence of security agencies in J&K. The CRPF had requested the Home Ministry for five aircrafts but Home Ministry rejected the CRPF request. There were 8-10 link roads joining the Jammu-Srinagar Highway on which the thousand strong CRPF convoy was proceeding. None of the link road junctions was sanitized by security agencies.
Forty (40) CRPF jawans were killed in the terrorist attack. When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Satyapal Malik from a dhaba near Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand sometime after the attack, Satyapal Malik had clearly told the PM that the Pulwama tragedy could have been avoided if the Home Ministry had agreed to keep five aircrafts at the disposal of the CRPF as per their request. The Prime Minister had told him not to speak to anybody about this issue. Later National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also called him and requested him to maintain silence on the issue.
Satyapal Malik stated that the 300 kilos of explosives in the van which crashed into the convoy of CRPF vehicles were obviously supplied by Pakistan. What was shocking, however, was the failure of Indian Security
Agencies failed to stop the explosive-laden vehicle which was moving unhindered for more than a week in nearby villages before the terrorist attack. Karan Thapar’s question: Whether the Prime Minister and his government wanted to use the Pulwama attack for winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and that is why they wanted to keep the Home Ministry’s mistake under wraps? Satyapal Malik refused to give an answer, but he just smiled.
The Pulwama attack took place on 14-02-2019. The Indian Airforce Fighter Jets bombed Balakot on 26-02-2019. The general elections to Lok Sabha took place from April 11 to May 19, in 2019. The 45- days period between the Balakot bombing and the beginning of the Lok Sabha elections was used by the BJP to make political capital out of what perhaps was an inevitable response of the Indian Defence Establishment to the terrorist attack on CRPF.
Would BJP have won in 2019 with such a thumping majority if the country knew that the 40 CRPF jawans were killed due to a reported mistake committed by the Home Ministry?