New Delhi: The family members of 40 CRPF jawans who were killed in the 2019 Pulwama attack are planning to hold a protest march in Delhi on November 26 to demand a White Paper from the government to fix accountability for the alleged lapses that led to the fatal attack.
Under the banner of Confederation of Ex-Paramilitary Forces Welfare Associations, the widows of the slain jawans and their family members will voice their demands to the government in a protest demonstration to be held on November 26, which is celebrated as Constitution Day, Ranbir Singh, the national coordinator of the association, told The Telegraph.
“We plan to bring widows and family members of the 40 CRPF jawans who were killed in the terror attack. It has been over four years since the Pulwama attack and the government has failed to fix accountability and responsibility on those officials whose failure led to the killing of our 40 jawans,” Singh said.
He went on to add that the Narendra Modi government, which always uses the nationalism plank during elections, has yet to come clean on what led to the killing of the 40 CRPF personnel. On February 14, 2019, the Jawans were killed when a bomb blew up the bus they were travelling in.
“The families of the 40 slain CRPF jawans have every right to know who was responsible for the negligence of intelligence reports that proved fatal for our jawans,” Singh affirmed.
He also referred to explosive allegations made by former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik in an interview for The Wire that the attack was a result of intelligence failure on the part of the Modi government. In that interview, Malik said that Modi had told him “tum abhi chup raho (you keep quiet now)” after he pointed out that the refusal of the Union government to give an aircraft to ferry jawans led to their killing. Malik also went on to repeat the allegations later in different meetings that he attended. Subsequently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued summons against him in connection with an alleged health insurance scam in Jammu and Kashmir.
Referring to Malik’s allegations, Singh said, “It has been over four years since then, but the Modi government has failed to fix accountability. Winning elections is his only priority. The people of this country need to remain alert that similar attacks can happen this time too before the parliamentary polls.”
Singh also alleged that the government instead of fixing its responsibility is trying to silence those who have been demanding accountability by unleashing probe agencies against them, alluding to CBI summons to Malik.
Malik had said, “Modi had politicised the killings of 40 CRPF soldiers and the IAF strikes in Balakot during the Lok Sabha polls and had even asked first-time voters to dedicate their vote to the valiant soldiers who carried out the air strike in Balakot.”
The Pulwama attack took eight weeks before the 2019 parliament elections, which led to the victory of the Modi government with a mandate bigger than the 2014 elections.