Mamata demands SC-monitored probe into Malik's comments on Pulwama attack

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik's statement regarding the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Speaking to reporters at the state secretariat, Banerjee alleged that it was the Centre's fault that India lost so many jawans.

"What Satyapal Malik-ji said is scary. He claimed that the central government, for mere polarisation of voters and to create a sense of fake nationalism, ignored the security of CRPF jawans. According to him, the Pulwama attack was an intelligence failure," she said.

"We had raised this issue back in 2019 too, but since at that time, it was a matter of nation first, we didn't want to say anything against the government. However, the truth has come out today. The BJP government was in power in 2019, and it was the Centre's fault that we have lost the lives of our jawans," she added.

Banerjee demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the claims made by Malik in an interview to a news portal.

"If the highest chair is involved, then it is only the Supreme Court that can conduct an impartial investigation. I have total confidence in the Supreme Court, only the judiciary can save this country. We need to have an inquiry into what happened in Pulwama, then only people will get to know the truth," she said.

There has been no reaction from the government since Malik's interview was released on Friday, but the BJP said that there were serious questions about his credibility and cited various statements made by him in recent years.

The opposition Congress demanded that the Centre reveal the outcome of the probe into the attack, and asked why the paramilitary personnel were "denied" aircraft and made to commute by road despite terror threat as claimed by Malik in the interview.