By Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI -  Seven years after a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel in one of the deadliest attacks in Kashmir's history, no evidence linking Pakistan to the attack has been presented to the international community -- even as a former governor appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own party alleges the government exploited the tragedy for electoral gain and covered up intelligence failures.

The February 14, 2019, Pulwama attack, in which unknown attackers targeted a Central Reserve Police Force convoy, pushed nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

India retaliated with airstrikes inside Pakistani territory, and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party swept to a landslide victory in national elections weeks later.

But seven years on, questions about what really happened that day refuse to fade -- and have been reignited by a series of stunning revelations from within India's own establishment.

Satya Pal Malik, who served as Modi's appointed governor of Jammu and Kashmir at the time of the attack, made explosive allegations in a February 2024 interview with The Quint.

"When the Pulwama incident happened, I told PM Modi it was our fault. He asked me to keep quiet about it," Malik said. "I thought they would initiate a probe. A while later, NSA Ajit Doval called me and asked me to keep quiet too. He was with me in law school. There has been no probe since."

Malik revealed that the government had denied requests for five aircraft that could have airlifted security personnel, potentially preventing them from taking the vulnerable highway where the attack occurred.

"The truth is, I had spoken up two hours after the incident. The PM was on a shoot at Jim Corbett National Park. He met me in the evening and asked about what happened. I thought there would be a probe," Malik said. "They had asked for 5 aircraft which they had denied. I would ferry stuck students in aircraft. If they hadn't taken the road, the incident would not have happened."

According to Malik, the government immediately began extracting political benefit from the tragedy. "They started taking political benefits from it right from the next day saying, 'When you vote, remember the sacrifices of Pulwama soldiers,'" he said.

The Pulwama attack occurred just as India was gearing up for its massive general elections. The fifth phase of voting -- covering 51 constituencies across seven states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir -- was scheduled for May 6, with results to be declared on May 23 .

Modi and the BJP repeatedly invoked the attack during campaign rallies. At a rally in Latur, Maharashtra, Modi asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes "to the soldiers who conducted the Balakot airstrikes" and "to the martyrs who lost their lives in Pulwama" . In Chitradurga, Karnataka, he accused the opposition of being in tears when India struck back at Pakistan.

The Election Commission had explicitly asked parties to "desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces" . But the warnings went unheeded. The BJP won 303 of 542 seats, a mandate widely attributed to the nationalist fervor generated by the Pulwama attack and the subsequent Balakot airstrikes.

Later, leaked WhatsApp messages from a TV anchor Goswami with close ties to Prime Minister Modi suggest the 2019 Pulwama attack was pre-planned by Indian intelligence to generate nationalist sentiment ahead of national elections.

The revelations have fueled accusations that 40 Indian soldiers were sacrificed for electoral gain.

• Pakistan rejects Indian allegations 

From the outset, Pakistan denied involvement in the Pulwama attack and offered cooperation with any investigation -- an offer India rejected.

Pakistan's then-Prime Minister Imran Khan proposed a joint investigation and pledged action if India provided actionable evidence. India refused all offers, instead launching airstrikes it claimed targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakot.

International observers have since cast doubt on India's military claims. Renowned American journalist Kristen Fair stated categorically that no Pakistani F-16s were destroyed in the subsequent aerial engagement, directly challenging the Indian Air Force's assertions.

Reports from reputable sources such as The New York Times suggested an Indian pilot crashed his own plane in haste, raising questions about the accuracy of India's accounts.

While Pakistan had also shot down their fighter jets.

The evidence question: 7-years, zero proof

Despite seven years passing since the attack, India has never presented evidence linking Pakistan to Pulwama to any international forum or independent investigative body.

The pattern, critics note, is consistent. Following the 2016 Uri attack that killed 19 soldiers, India blamed Pakistan without providing evidence to international bodies. After Pulwama, the same dynamic played out. And following the 2025 Pahalgam attack and the November 2025 Red Fort blast, India again pointed fingers at Pakistan without offering proof that has convinced the international community.

 Within India, the absence of evidence has become a political flashpoint. Gupta Sharma, a New Delhi-based political analyst, offered a blistering assessment.

"We should look in our own backyard before pointing fingers toward Pakistan. Despite seven years, you have no single piece of evidence against Pakistan," Sharma said. "For how long will you fool our nation in the name of Pakistan, while there is no evidence that Pakistan is doing anything in our country? Now it's proven that these attacks were carried out by our own intelligence to help Modi in the elections."

The Congress party has repeatedly demanded answers. In September 2024, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Pramod Tiwari, called on Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to respond to Malik's allegations .

"Malik's revelations about national security are startling. Malik, appointed by Narendra Modi, exposed how the prime minister asked him to remain silent after the terror attack in which 40 soldiers attained martyrdom," Tiwari said . "As a nation, we demand answers from the prime minister. How was RDX smuggled into J&K? Why didn't the government provide air transport for soldiers? These allegations are not coming from the opposition but from a governor appointed by the BJP."

Tiwari noted that the investigation into the Pulwama attack has "yielded no conclusions after five years, highlighting the government's incompetence".

For the families of the 40 CRPF personnel killed in the attack, the passage of seven years has brought no closure. No one has been held accountable. No independent investigation has been conducted. And now, a former governor appointed by Modi's own government has alleged a cover-up at the highest levels.

Pakistan's Foreign Office continues to maintain that India's allegations are "baseless" and that Pakistan desires peace and resolution of all outstanding issues through dialogue.

As Gupta Sharma put it: "Now it's proven that these attacks were carried out by our own intelligence to help Modi in elections. The question is: will anyone be held accountable?"

With the BJP preparing for another election cycle, many Indians are now asking whether another attack, similar to Pulwama or Pahalgam, could be used to influence the election outcome.?