Ex-IIOJK governor claims Modi ignored security lapses in Pulwama attack

• Former governor levels allegations on Indian PM and his close aides.
• Malik claims Modi “ill-informed” and “ignorant” about Kashmir.
• He blames attack on "incompetence, negligence of Indian system".

Former governor of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) Satya Pal Malik, who is also an ex-member of the Narendra Modi-led government, alleged that the Indian prime minister silenced him on the security lapses which led to the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Malik said Modi did so to benefit from the move and blame the attack on Pakistan. In a recent interview, he also levelled grave allegations against the Indian premier and his close aides.

In the interview — which may create difficulties for the Modi administration in India, the Indian administration of the IIOJK and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — also includes shocking claims regarding the approach towards the occupied region and treatment of Muslims in India.

Malik exposed the Indian conspiracy to blame Pakistan by concealing its own mistakes surrounding the Pulwama attack.

On February 14, 2019, around 40 Indian soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and dozens injured at the Srinagar-Jammu Highway in the Awantipora area in the Pulwama district of the IIOJK, an attack which is dubbed as the deadliest in Indian forces in over a decade. 

The soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off as a convoy of military vehicles drove by, some 20 kilometres from the main city of Srinagar.

Malik, who was governor during the Pulwama terrorist attack of February 2019 and the scrapping of Article 370 in August of that year, also said the prime minister is “ill-informed” and “ignorant” about Kashmir and told him not to speak about the Union home ministry’s lapses which led to the devastating terrorist attack on soldiers in Pulwama in February 2019.

The Indian politician attributed the attack to the "incompetence and negligence of the Indian system" and CRPF.

Sharing details to support his claims, Malik said that the request for airlifting the soldiers had been refused by the home ministry, while the sanitisation before the transfer by road was inefficient.

"I told the prime minister that it happened due to our mistake. Had we given the aircraft, it wouldn't have happened, so he told me to keep quiet," he said.

"I had sensed that all of this onus will be diverted towards Pakistan so it's better to keep quiet," Malik said, confirming that the strategy was to derive electoral benefit for BJP from the incident.

Calling Modi "ignorant" and "ill-informed" on IIOJK, Malik said that the abolition of Kashmir's special status was a mistake and should be revoked.

Malik also accused Modi of being unconcerned about corruption as he turned a blind eye every time he was informed about any instance involving corrupt practices.

"I can safely say the PM has no real problem with corruption," he told the interviewer.

He also rued the treatment of Muslims in India by politicians, especially the incumbent premier of the country.

"It is a wrong thing to alienate such a vast majority of people, you cannot throw them away, you have to co-exist with them, then exist it with love," Malik said.