The Congress today presented a list of five questions on last week’s terror attack at Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama and demanded a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The attack on February 14 — in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives when a suicide bomber of Jaish-e Mohammed drove an explosive-laden car into a 78-vehicle convoy — came two days after the terror group uploaded a video online about a similar one in Afghanistan and warned about one in Kashmir.
Investigators, off the record, have admitted that it was a case of intelligence failure. The Criminal Investigation Department of the state police had shared the video with the intelligence agencies but no action had been taken, sources had said.
The Congress questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval have not accepted their responsibility for this massive intelligence failure. It also asked why the government ignored the threatening video released by Jaish-e Mohammed.
The party questioned where local terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar and his accomplices managed to get hold of the enormous quantity of RDX used to cause the blast, and how the vehicle reached the convoy despite tight security.
RDX – an explosive that terrorists so far sourced from Pakistan — has not been used in terror strikes in the country for nearly a decade. Investigators said the car that caused the explosion was carrying at least 20 kg of RDX. There have been no answers on how the RDX-filled car managed to reach the convoy despite the sanitised route and the presence of CRPF patrols.
The Congress also questioned why the home ministry rejected the request of CRPF and the Border Security Forces’ request for moving paramilitary convoys by air. The subject has triggered much debate after reports that the home ministry had shot down a proposal to move the troops by air.
Shifting the 2,500 men who were on the convoy to Srinagar had been delayed as the Jammu-Srinagar highway was blocked due to snow.
After the attack, the ministry said shifting of paramilitary convoys would continue by road due to logistical reasons, but certain changes have been made in the procedure to strengthen security.
The Congress also questioned why 488 soldiers lost their lives under the Narendra Modi government and why demonetisation has not managed to curb terror. The overnight scrapping of high denomination bank notes in November 2016 was aimed at stopping terror funding that is carried out through a shadow economy of counterfeit notes.
The Congress attack comes a week after the terror strike. The party had suspended all political activity after the attack, saying it was time to support the affected families and show solidarity with the government.
But today, party chief Rahul Gandhi set the ball rolling with a Twitter barb