The nation has stood as one in condemning the dastardly suicide terror attack carried out by the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) on the CRPF Bus that has led to the tragic death of 44 of our Jawans. Across the country, people have mourned and have come together in this hour of crisis and sorrow. The Pulwama terror attack, the Surgical Strikes that followed, have ensured that the very issue of National Security is now the dominant central political issue as we head for the crucial 2019 General Elections and unfortunately for the moment, practically every other issue has been sidelined.
The politics of polarization and hate is being deployed, as we witnessed Kashmiri students and traders being attacked, whilst hate, bigotry, muscular communal politics and war mongering are on full display.
Both the Pulwama Terror attack & the Balakot Surgical Strikes have also led to many questions which need to be asked, many facts that need to be placed in the public domain, as the entire official narrative has many anomalies that need to be pointed out.
In fact unlike previous Terror attacks, many leading political figures & Military, Intelligence officials have also raised questions and aired their doubts. Some have clearly pointed their fingers at the fact that the timing of both the Pulwama Terror attack & the Surgical Strikes that followed have clearly helped PM Modi politically, in his previously failing political campaign – as we head for the crucial General Elections of 2019. That Pulwama-Balakot have given Modi a new lease of life, a new momentum! In fact this opinion is widely shared.
Thus let us refer to a few of the statements as below:
“Modi-babu, where were you when the attack took place? You had prior information. You knew it would happen. The Central government had intelligence inputs about it. Then why were the jawans not airlifted? Why was there no naka-checking and sanitisation of the convoy route?” the Trinamool Congress chief asked. “Why were the troopers left to die? Is it because you wanted to politicise the matter before the elections? The blood of our jawans should not be politicised in this way,” she added. ~ Mamta Banerjee, CM of West Bengal (February 25th 2019, IANS)
“Jawans were killed for votes” stated Ram Gopal Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party & a prominent national leader. He further went on to say that If the government changes in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, and a probe is conducted into the Pulwama terror attack, “big fish” will be caught. He added that “This was a conspiracy”. (21st March 2019, Reports from Hindustan Times & ANI)
“If NSA Ajit Doval is investigated, then all the truth about the Pulwama terror attack will come out,” Thackeray said in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra according to PTI. He further said that the CRPF troopers who were killed in the suicide bomb attack were “political victims.”
~ Raj Thackeray, President MNS (25th February, The Citizens Bureau)
In the same rally in Kolhapur he further stated:
“I suspect somebody in the Indian establishment deliberately allowed attack to happen against our jawans so that all attention could be diverted from all failures of the government. I demand all actions of National security advisor in the past few months should be investigated.”
Lt. Gen. G. S. Hooda (Retd), who commanded the India Army’s Northern Command during the Uri Surgical Strike told the New York Times that “the material may have been taken form stashes of explosives” being used to broaden the Jammu highway where the attack occurred. (17th February, 2019 Reported in the NYT & the Dawn)
Lt. Gen G. S. Hooda (Retd)
The role of the media has been pathetic to say the least, though there have been journalists themselves that have questioned their own fraternity.
“Our investigation into the Indian media’s reporting on the Pulwama attack found that many reports were contradictory, biased, incendiary and uncorroborated. News organizations such as India Today, NDTV, News 18, the Indian Express, First Post, Mumbai Mirror, ANI and others routinely attributed their information to anonymous “government sources,” “forensic experts,” “police officers” and “intelligence officers.” No independent investigations were conducted, and serious questions about intelligence failures were left unanswered.”(After Pulwama, the Indian Media proves it is the BJP’s propaganda machine bySuchitra Vijayan & Vasundhara Sirnate Drennan, Washington Post, March 4, 2019)
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Firstly in terms of the Pulwama attack, we will look into the area of the Intelligence available, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the multiple versions that keep emerging, the misinformation, the role of the PM, the NSA, MHA, the Government and the Opposition Parties, the CRPF & other Paramilitary forces, as well as the crucial role of the Media.
Do note that as yet, none have been held accountable …….
Punitive action by India must begin at home – against negligent officials. ~Sanjiv Sood Krishan (Former Additional Director General of the Border Security Force who retired after 38 years in service. His Twitter handle is @sood_2)
Thus the following are – Some Questions and Some Facts:
Fact -1: The SOP, the Standard Operating Procedure to safeguard the Military Convoys of the Jammu-Srinagar Highway is as follows. It is the responsibility of the Road Opening Patrol (ROP) to secure and sanitise the entire highway. Its duty is to clear the path of any Land Mines & IED’s. The highway is also secured by the other Paramilitary Forces, namely the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), whose duty is to secure the Roads leading to the Highway, to ensure that the entire surrounding area is free of Militants/Terrorists. Here each local unit of the RR is responsible to secure the area under it’s jurisdiction. The RR is aided by a unit of the Bomb Disposable Squad (BDS). The RR erects Barricades at each and every road leading to the Highway. Thus each car is checked for explosives, guns or any lethal weapons. The RR Jawans also line the entire Highway, standing apart at a distance of 200 metres to ensure that no attacker can take them by surprise.
Question – 1: Thus the entire nation is asking the question, as to how did a Car laden with 350 kgs of RDX travel undetected in the most secure and militarized region in the world.
How did this car get onto the Highway without being checked? From which road did it emerge? As of yet even this simple question is unanswered! Which was the RR Unit, who was the Officer in charge of the particular road from where the car emerged onto the Highway? Not a single name is being divulged, none being held accountable, none taking responsibility.
Fact – 2: The Weather conditions had been bad due to heavy snowfall & no convoy had traveled by road since the 4th of February. A lot of Jawans had been stranded. The CRPF requested the Jawans to be AIR-LIFTED, but this was refused by the MHA & Top Government Officials. Then the CRPF requested that they be provided ARMOURED TRUCKS instead of the BUSES. This too apparently was not approved.
Fact – 3: Thus on the 14th of February 2019, at 4.00am, the Convoy of 78 vehicles and 2500 personnel set-off from Jammu to Srinagar on National Highway 44.
Fact – 4: The statement of the J&K Police after the terror attack at 3.10pm.
“Our preliminary report suggests that a car laden with IED was at the spot. It is not clear at this stage whether the car rammed into the convoy or was parked beforehand. Mangled remains of the car is at the spot that is being investigated. But difficult to identify at this stage. The terrorists did not target the security car ahead of the Bus. The plan was only to target the CRPF Bus.”
The above report states that the terrorists were aware of the precise bus which did not have the required protection. Thus to what level did the JeM cell have the information? Who provided this information from within the security apparatus?
Fact – 5: The Car used for the Suicide Bombing
All the official & media reports stated that a SCORPIO Car, black in colour, was used in this suicide terror attack. Now it has been changed to a MARUTI ECO, red in colour.The car owner Sajjad Bhatt is missing & has absconded.
Questions – 2: How could the facts garnered from the eyewitnesses by the investigating agencies and the entire media get such a simple fact this wrong, as the cars do not even look similar? Earlier reports stated that the CHASSIS & ENGINE number had been filed away & untraceable. But now the authorities have released both the Chassis & Engine numbers as well as the name of the owner. Also can the numbers that have emerged, remain unfiled and removed by the terrorists to be easily traced back to the perpetrators? Could the numbers even have survived a blast of this magnitude? The blast was so powerful that the bus parts were found a kilometre away & the other bus was also ripped apart. Thus we must ask the question – Is fake evidence being fabricated as part of the cover-up?
Fact – 6: The movements of the Car & 4 narratives:
The official reports based on eyewitnesses clearly contradict each other, as they state that either the car was trailing the convoy from Jammu itself (200kms) and finally hit the convoy at Awantipora, barely 20 kms away from Srinagar. Another report suggests that the car emerged from a side road and hit the Bus, another that states that the car was waiting on the side to ram into the Bus and a fourth that says that the car came from the opposite side. Which is the true narrative, from where did this car emerge? Even this fact is still unclear.
Fact – 7: Also reports stated that the “Car Hit the Bus” and also that Adil Dar the Suicide Bomber “Detonated the Bomb when close to the Bus.”
Questions – 3: This again is intriguing as again we have 2 narratives. Every Convoy has “JAMMERS” that prevent signals from being sent to detonate bombs, as this too is part of the SOP.
INTELLIGENCE WARNINGS!!
Fact – 8: Intelligence Available: On Feb 8, 2019 the J&K Police had sent a specific intel alert – headlined “Extremely Urgent” to the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Army & the Airforce warning of a possible IED attack. It was sent on behalf of the IG Police, Kashmir, asking all security agencies to “sanitize areas properly before occupying your place or deployment as there are inputs that IED’s could be used”.
The Intel warning issued on the 8th of February.
Fact – 9: On the 12th of February, two days prior to the attack, the J&K police shared another intel input with all the security agencies about a video uploaded on Twitter account 313_get. The 33 second clip threatened a “Suicide Attack” on the lines of similar attacks in Somalia. The J&K Police prepared & circulated a dummy video to explain how militants may possibly carry out such an attack.
Fact – 10: A few days prior to the attack, the US issued a Travel Advisory to it’s citizens warning them to be careful. Interestingly it referred to the POK as Azad Kashmir. The Modi Govt has not objected as of yet.
Questions – 4: Did the US have credible actionable intelligence on the aware possible terror attack? Did they share this intel with the Indian Government? Also sophisticated US weapons such as M4 Machine Guns have been found in the Valley since 2017, mostly used by NATO forces in Afghanistan. Worrying indeed.
Fact – 11: On the 13th of February, at 2.30pm, there was a grenade attack on a school in Sirnoo Village, Kakapora area, Pulwama, in which 19 students were injured of which 5 were taken to hospitals in Srinagar.
Questions – 5:This bit of evidence is crucial, as this is precisely from this area that Adil Dar belongs to, barely 10 kms away from the suicide terror attack on the CRPF bus. In fact that grenade attack would have led to higher security in the entire Kakapora-Pulwama area, making it even more impossible for unchecked movements by foot, or by a vehicle. This raises even far more serious questions about the security units that were responsible to sanitise & secure the area.
Fact -12: Adil Ahmad Dar, the Suicide Bomber.
As per the Central Intelligence Bureau, Adil Ahmad Dar was detained 6 times between September 2016 & March 2018 for pelting stones & on suspicions of his links to terrorist organisations such as the LeT. But he was never arrested.
A report that is not being mentioned in the media is as follows. The Kashmir Times report filed by Ess Ahmad stated that Adil Dar was arrested on the 9th of October 2017 in a shootout with the Army & the Special Operations Group (SOG) in Shopian, in which two militants were killed & one arrested. DIG of Police for Southern Kashmir, S. P. Pani said that the militants belonged to the Hizb-ul-Mujahedeen.
Questions – 6: Despite the fact that Adil Dar was caught in a shootout, why was he let off? Why despite so many arrests was Dar not considered a highly rated terrorist? Why was he rated as a low “C-Grade”, not considered a potent threat? Note that Dar was never formally charged for a crime or named in a FIR!!
Who is responsible for this lapse, this complicity, this coverup?
Fact – 13: Abdul Ghazi was first referred to as the mastermind. It was soon found out with information available on Wikipedia that the Abdul Rashid Ghazi had been killed way back in July 2007 by the Pakistan Army stormed the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque).
Soon Kamran (Omar Hafiz) emerged as the mastermind, who is also referred to as Abdul Ghazi.
Questions – 7:Why was the fake narrative of Abdul Ghazi promoted by the Security Agencies & the Media? Worse, a photoshopped version of Kamran was carried by all of the mainstream Media. Who released this photo? Why does the media still carry this fake photo.
This was first exposed by a Twitter user Shuvankar Mukherjee.
This was first questioned & exposed by Twitter user Shuvankar Mukherjee who asked: Why is the Picture of Terrorist has .. 1) Police taser on one side 2) Police Baton on the other side 3) Police radio in probably Swiss-made watch wearing hand ?? Does anybody know this uniform?
Brazilian Policeman Guilherme Leao, from which the image of Kamran was morphed and photo-shopped. Why the lies?
Fact -14: Fake Shopian Terror attack on 14th February was first announced by the J&K BJP in a Press Release, carried by Times Now. This attack was denied by the CRPF.
Fact – 15: the CRPF did a commendable job is countering fake news and hate propaganda. The CRPF issued an advisory that stated that fake photos/videos/news were being circulated on Social Media.
The pathetic status of the Buses in which our armed forces personnel are made to travel.
Questions – 8: Why despite the repeated requests from the CRPF, the specific Intel warnings – wasn’t the request approved by the MHA? Who will be held accountable?
These and many other questions yet remain, even as we head for tumultuous warmongering times, even as we head for the crucial national elections.
Essentially PM Modi’s Govt must take responsibility for his failure to protect India from terror attacks. The security situation has far worsened under his tenure in every war. In fact during his tenure, terror attacks have increased by 176% and Soldier deaths by – by 93%.
Fact – 16: The Security and Intelligence Agencies began to make excuses to cover-up their failure/complicity in the terror attack. The point was that how could such a massive terror attack been mounted in an area where our Army, Para-Military forces and Intel Units are present in lakhs in the most militarised region in the world. They soon began to come up with a new theory that the terror cells had come up with new communication technologies. Yet our Intel Agencies have the power to tap &uncover JeM conversations in Pakistan, but cannot do so in Kashmir itself.
Fact – 17:~ 3:10 PM: Terror attack in Pulwama. PM Modi is Corbett National Park (Uttar Pradesh), at a photoshoot.
~ 5:10 PM: PM Modi addresses a rally in Rudrapur via mobile, but remains silent on the attack.
~ 6:46 PM: PM Modi finally condemns the attack via Twitter.
Question – 9: Why did PM Modi take more than three hours to react to Pulwama? Shouldn’t the PM immediately flown to Delhi, addressed the nation and met with all the opposition leaders, as any true leader would?
Clearly post-Pulwama, Modi seems far from sad, in fact he is clearly in a buoyant mood. The hypocrisy is there for all to see.
BALAKOT SURGICAL STRIKES:
Modiji – Are the widows& families of the slain CRPF Jawans too anti-National for questioning, for demanding to know the truth of Balakot?
“I have written about the futility of attacking ‘terror camps’, as they do not yield any strategic enemy assets. But in this case as in many before, the Govt of India has asked the Armed forces to act on its behalf and the Armed Forces have delivered, only to once again be used for the personal glorification of Narendra Modi.” ~ Rajiv Tyagi, Former Indian Air Force Pilot
The politicisation of the Surgical Strikes is evident to see, with Modi to the rest of the BJP leadership convinced that they are heading for a massive majority on an Ultra-Nationalist wave. Yet they are unable to answer simple questions that have arisen out of their own claims.
Immediately after the Surgical Strike in Balakot, the headlines screamed that 300 terrorists of the JeM had been killed & some JeM buildings destroyed. The international media on the ground in Pakistan, which included that New York Times, Washington Post, Jane’s Defence Weekly, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian & the Gulf News amongst many, essentially stated that there was no evidence to back up the claims of the Indian Govt. At the most there was one injury and that the bombs had been dropped in a forest nearby, destroying a few trees.
Whilst PM Modi and his leaders were celebrating their election victory on the back of these strikes, the Nation began to ask simple questions. They asked PM Modi to show evidence of the claims – but there were none forthcoming. The only strategy resorted to, was to target all who ask & exercise their democratic rights – was to label them as anti-Nationals.
Even during the peak of the Kargil War during the Vajpayee Govt, both a representative of the Armed Forces and the Government addressed the Media – and yes, they were asked questions and they responded with answers, unlike the Modi Government of today.
PM Modi has also hit a self-goal by stating that “Results would have been different if we had Rafale”. Thus here we have Modi himself doubting the success of the Surgical Strike & the Pakistani media is quoting it across every media outlet. So is our PM – anti-National? – as he clearly has helped Pakistan’s cause here.
The Armed forces that were given a “Free Hand” post-Pulwama to Strike, are not quoting any figure of the casualties, only stating that it is the responsibility of the Government to do so. Thus we have figures from “0” as stated by BJP leader Ahluwalia, to “250” being stated by Amit Shah. There is just no sense of coherence.
There is a very simple method of verifying the claims and that is as follows. The reality is that the SPICE 2000 Air to Surface Missiles that were deployed through our Mirages, are State of the Art Technology. Essentially each Missile is fitted with a VIDEO CAMERA that continuously transmits images to the Mirages, till the very last millisecond till it strikes the target for which it has been programmed in advance.
Do watch the official SPICE 2000 video here, and note the fact of the Video Camera Footage:
SPICE 2000 is an Israeli developed EO/GPS-Guided Guidance Kit for converting air-droppable unguided bombs into precision guided bombs.
The fact that the Modi Govt has not released these videos proves that the reporting by the international media holds true. The government has released Satellite images but they have been debunked. The only way to settle this controversy is for the Modi Government to release the Video evidence.
In fact there is need for a group of eminent citizens to file a PIL and appeal to the Supreme Court to ask the government to release the video footage of the Balakot strike.
To term the strikes as “Non-Military, Pre-emtive Strike” is indeed itself laughable, as the entire world is ever that it is the Pakistan Military and the ISI that provide safe haven for the terror groups like the JeM, LeT to dozens more, if not hundreds.
What Modi really should have done post-Pathankot, post-Uri, was to go in for Covert Operations to wipe out the JeM, LeT leadership – but that was not undertaken in his entire tenure.Thus Maulana Azhar Masood, to Hafeez Saeed to even Dawood Ibrahim sit there safely, as we listen to empty election promises of a safe secure country under a supposed strong leader, who cannot even provide the due evidence of the strike as the rest of the world scoffs at us.
In that sense, the Surgical Strikes were purely POLITICAL THEATRE, all with an eye on winning the elections.
This prompted former RAW Chief AS Dulat to state that “Modi is milking the present situation to the extreme
Modi has clearly failed to address the agrarian crisis & the Security situation too has worsened with more security personnel & civilians dying in Kashmir.
With the Ram Mandir issue to having failed to galvanise the voters, the issue of terrorism and ultra-nationalism clearly is the last recourse.
In the coming months, the narrative from the Modi Govt & the propagandist Corporate Media, will carry on to be hateful & will demonise all those who question the government for its terrible failures – similar to Hitler.
“History and the German people will despise every man who does not give his everything to save the Führer.”
~Adolf Hitler, Berlin, April 26, 1945
As we head for the crucial elections, the patriotic people of our great country, must ask the difficult questions, expose the facts – expose all those who are complicit in the crimes and the cover-up. We must ask the questions, our Constitution empowers us to do so. None is above the law or our democratic institutions. From the Political Leadership, to the Intelligence-Security Establishment, to the Armed forces – they are all accountable to the People of India.
I will end with a couplet from renowned poet Rahat Indori – very apt indeed…….
“Sarhado pe bahut tanao hai kya,
Kuch pata to karon, chunav hai kya?”
“Is there tension on the borders,
Do find out, are their elections?”
Feroze Mithiborwala is National Convenor of Bharat Bachao Andolan