Modi govt must come clean on allegations by Satyapal Malik: CPIM

The CPIM on Monday demanded an explanation from the government over the allegations made by former governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satyapal Malik about the Pulwama attack.

Malik, in an interview with a news portal, had claimed there were lapses in security protocol that led to the February 2019 attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

"The CPIM demands that the Modi government must come clean and answer all the serious allegations raised by the former governor of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, Satyapal Malik, the party said in a statement.

"The allegations regarding the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF jawans had lost their lives are a serious matter which concerns the security of our country. No lapses in safeguarding our national security can be brooked, it said.

The CPIM also said that the allegations regarding the manner in which Articles 370 and 35 A of the Constitution were abrogated and the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir dissolved into two Union Territories are equally serious".

"The Modi government's silence on these issues has very grave implications for our national security and the unity and integrity of India. Modi government must respond to these allegations in the interest of our national security and Constitutional sanctity. Modi government cannot remain silent," it said.

Though the Centre has not reacted to the allegations, the BJP has cited Malik's past remarks, including the one that mocked former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as a "political juvenile", and slammed him as the "disgraced governor of Jammu and Kashmir".