Did not say Pakistan had no role in Pulwama attack: Cong MP Anto Antony clarifies

Pathanamthitta: Facing intense criticism for his controversial allegations against the BJP regarding the 2019 Pulwama attack, Congress MP Anto Antony on Thursday claimed he did not say that Pakistan had no role in that.

Speaking to a TV channel, Antony said he did not say that Pakistan had no role in the attack during the press conference held here Wednesday.

He said that it was the reporters who asked about Pakistan's role and he had not expressed any opinion on that.

On Wednesday, when a reporter raised the issue of Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack, the Pathanamthitta MP had responded sharply, asking, "What involvement did Pakistan have in the Pulwama blast?" Antony, the Congress candidate for the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat which he has represented since 2014, said that his response "was interpreted by those present there according to their self interest and intelligence."

He claimed that it was the then Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik who had in an interview said that the sacrifice of the CRPF jawans in the attack was used for political gains.

He contended that what Malik had said was 100 per cent correct.

"Satyapal Malik publicly levelled the allegations. Why has no sedition case been lodged against him?" Antony asked.

He was reacting to BJP state president K Surendran's remarks that the Congress MP had insulted the country by denying Pakistan's role in the Pulwama terror attack.

Surendran had said Antony should be charged with sedition and arrested.

Antony further claimed that what he had said in the press conference the previous day was that those ruling the country would go to any extent for achieving political gains.

"As far as I am concerned, I stand by what I have said," he added.

The Pulwama attack took place on February 14, 2019 when a convoy of vehicles transporting CRPF personnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway was targeted by a suicide bomber in a vehicle at Lethapora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The attack resulted in the deaths of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.