Cong targets Centre over Pulwama attack, asks how explosives reached there

Team Udayavani, Mar 4, 2019, 3:51 AM IST

Guwahati: Targeting the central government over the Pulwama terror attack, the Congress on Sunday asked how explosives reached the area and why a civilian vehicle was allowed to enter the road when a huge CRPF convoy was moving.

Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera also wondered why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was silent for over two hours after the terror attack in Pulwama which left 40 CRPF personnel dead on February 14.

Addressing a press conference here, he said. “As a responsible opposition, we will raise questions. Our first question: how did RDX reach there? Our second question: why a civilian vehicle was allowed to enter that road when a huge CRPF convoy was moving?” 

Over 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus, one in a convoy of 78 moving from Jammu to Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir is under President’s Rule now.

“Our third question is to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When the incident took place at 3:10 pm, where were you and what were you doing till 5:10 pm? We came to know from media friends in Uttarakhand that he was busy in a photo-shoot,” the senior Congress leader claimed.

“When 40 jawans of the country were killed, the king had no time for that. He was busy with politics and publicity,” Khera alleged.

He also slammed the prime minister for allegedly doing politics and seeking votes in the name of the slain CRPF jawans.

“The country will not forgive you. The Congress has shown responsibility and promised to the families of those jawans that answers to these questions will be found,” he said.

Alleging that BJP is trying hard to politicise the Pulwama attack, Khera asserted that Congress will never play politics on the incident and will not allow others to do it.

On senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh urging the Centre to present evidence of the air strike on terrorist camps in Pakistan’s Balakot, Khera said the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister neither raised questions nor asked for any proof.

“He (Singh) said the government shuts the mouth of those raising questions. He put it very clearly. It is not like that the Congress is asking for any proof,” the party spokesperson said.

He said India conducted surgical strikes on Pakistan’s soil during when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister.

“We never spoke about it openly. Now the BJP asks us to show proof of that four surgical strikes. Does the BJP have no trust in the Army then? The Army does its work, the government does its work,” he added.

“The government does not have answers on two crore jobs, problems of farmers and the cause of demonetisation. So they are doing such kind of politics. There should not be any politics on Army,” Khera said.