NEW DELHI
\nIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hid key facts from the public about the Pulwama terror attack that killed dozens of paramilitary troops in India-held Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, a former governor of the disputed region has said.
\nSatya Pal Malik also told an Indian outlet in an interview that he immediately realised that Mr Modi wanted to use the attack to blame Pakis\u00actan for the benefit of his government and the BJP.
\nIn a wide-ranging interview with Karan Thapar, published on Friday, Mr Malik also slammed corruption under Mr Modi\u2019s watch. \u201cI can safely say the PM has no real problem with corruption,\u201d he said.
\nMr Malik was governor during the Pulwama atta\u00acck and the scrappihng of Article 370 in August that year. He said the Indian prime minister was \u201cill-informed\u201d and \u201cignorant\u201d about Kashmir, and that he had told Mr Malik not to speak about the home ministry\u2019s lapses, which led to the devastating incident.
\nMr Malik revealed that the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama was a result of \u201cincompetence\u201d and \u201ccarelessness\u201d by the Indian system, specifically the CRPF and the home min\u00aci\u00ac\u00acstry.
\nMr Malik gave details of how the CRPF had asked for aircraft to transport its personnel, but was refused by the home ministry.
\nMore importantly, he said all of these lapses were raised by him directly when Mr Modi called him from outside Corbett Park, shortly after the Pulwama attack. He said the prime minister told him to keep quiet about this and not tell anyone.
\nSeparately, Mr Malik said that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval also told him to keep quiet and not talk about it. Mr Malik said he immediately realised that the intention was to put the blame on Pakistan and derive electoral benefit for the government and BJP.
\nMr Malik also said that there was grave intelligence failure in the Pulwama incident, because the car carrying 300 kilograms of RDX explosives had allegedly come from across the border, but was travelling around the roads and villages of India-held Jammu and Kashmir for 10-15 days without being detected and without anyone knowing.
\nMr Malik also detailed why he did not let Mehbooba Mufti form a new government, even though she claimed a majo\u00acrity of 56 in the 87-member assembly and why he chose instead to dissolve the assembly in November 2018. At one point, he accused Mehbooba Mufti of lying, saying that the parties whose support she was claiming, such as the National Conference, were separately telling him to dissolve the assembly because they feared horse-trading.
\nMr Malik said the prime minister is \u201cignorant\u201d and \u201cill-informed\u201d about Kashmir. He said that removing India-held Kashmir\u2019s statehood was a mistake and it should be restored immediately.
\nSpeaking about Mr Modi, Mr Malik said the prime minister is not at all concerned about corruption.
\nHe said he was removed as governor of Goa in August 2020 and sent to Meghalaya because he had brought to the prime minister\u2019s attention several instances of corruption, which the government chose to ignore rather than tackle.
\nHe alleged that the people around the prime minister are indulging in corruption and often use the PMO\u2019s name. Mr Malik said he had brought all this to Mr Modi\u2019s attention, but added that the PM did not seem to care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hid key facts from the public about the Pulwama terror attack that killed dozens of paramilitary troops in India-held Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, a former governor of the disputed region has said. Satya Pal Malik also told an Indian outlet in an interview that he immediately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-326122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n