Periods when the Pulwama terror attack caused Indian politics to flare up

Political groups in India and Pakistan, which borders India, have been at odds over the Balakot airstrikes and the Pulwama terror attack. Despite the fact that the majority of people consider Pulwama as a terrorist incident and the Balakot airstrike as a response to it, there are still a few voices that hold opposing opinions on both. These opinions kept the 2019 Pulwama terror attack mired in political controversy.

In the most recent political controversy, Satya Pal Malik, a former governor of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), purportedly asserted that the Indian government should have airlifted CRPF soldiers rather than deploying them in a convoy through the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

In the Pulwama area of Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers.

Malik further asserted that after telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Pulwama terror attack occurred because the Center failed to provide aircraft to transfer CRPF men after having intelligence inputs about such a threat, Modi reportedly urged him to keep quiet.

ongoing political showdown over the incident in Pulwama
Malik made several explosive remarks during an hour-long interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire, during which he referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “ill-informed” about J&K. Malik served as the Governor of J&K during the Pulwama terror attack and the removal of the special status granted under Article 370.

A political circus quickly erupted following this interview, with some lawmakers labeling Malik’s assertions as “explosive truth.”

Jairam Ramesh, the general secretary of the Congress, demanded a statement from the BJP-led Union government in response to Satypal Malik’s accusations, accusing it of “minimum governance and maximum silence.”

He stated, “It is the government’s responsibility to answer,” and he added that Congress will keep asking inquiries about national security.

Since the publication of Malik’s interview with the news portal, the government has not responded, but the BJP has said that there are substantial doubts about his reliability and has referenced other statements he has made in recent years.

Pakistan now holds India accountable for Pulwama
Pakistan reacted quickly to Malik’s interview and was quick enough to manipulate the story to suit India’s domestic politics about the matter. In a statement released on Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attempted to claim that the Indian administration had “exploited the situation” following the Pulwama incident for “political gains.”

The excerpt from Malik’s interview was posted on the official Twitter account of the Pakistani news source PTV World with the caption, “India’s Pulwama drama further exposed.”

Years after one of its ministers on the floor of the house claimed responsibility for the Pulwama incident, Pakistan is attempting this time-honored method of exploiting the circumstance. Fawad Chaudhry, a former minister of information and broadcasting in Pakistan, acknowledged Islamabad’s involvement in the incident in Pulwama.

“We attacked India at home. The achievement of this country under Imran Khan’s leadership is a success of ours in Pulwama. During a 2020 National Assembly debate, he declared, “You and we are all a part of that success.

UNSC attributed Pulwama to a terrorist group based in Pakistan.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a terrorist organization with a base in Pakistan, was blamed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in a statement released in 2019 denouncing the Pulwama terror assault.

“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in over 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed [JeM] has claimed responsibility,” the statement read.

In response, Pakistan went on the defense. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former Pakistani minister of foreign affairs, stated in an interview that JeM “did not claim responsibility [for the attack]” and that there is uncertainty over such allegations. This was true even though JeM blatantly admitted credit for the attack in a statement posted on their official website.

Undoubtedly, Pakistan made every effort to conceal its involvement in the attack.

As soon as the government criticized the opposition over Pulwama
The Modi government intensified its attacks on opposition parties in March 2019, one month after the assault, and referred to them as a “natural habitat of terror apologists and questioners of our armed forces.”

“The opposition continuously disparages our forces. I make an appeal to Indians. Inquire about the statements made by opposition leaders. Inform them that the 130 crore Indians will not overlook or forgive the opposition’s misbehavior. India completely supports our forces,” Modi stated in response to Sam Pitroda’s remark from the Congress.

Since the incident, the government and opposition parties have engaged in a number of acrimonious disagreements, turning a terrorist act into a point of political contention. And one more, Pulwama is still more than just a terrorist attack after four years.