Atiq Ahmed's Murder Tact To Shift Focus From Satyapal Malik's Revelations On Pulwama Attack: Mehbooba Mufti

Satyapal Malik, in a recent interview to a news portal, had alleged that there were lapses in security protocol that led to the February 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

New Delhi: A day after gangster-turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti termed the incident as a "clever diversionary tactic" to shift the attention from the "revelations" made by former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik about the Pulwama attack, news agency PTI reported.

Taking to Twitter, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir wrote, “Uttar Pradesh has slipped into anarchy and jungle raj. Cold blooded murders and lawlessness is being celebrated by rabid right wingers amidst slogans of Jai Shri Ram.”

“A clever diversionary tactic to shift attention from Satyapal Malik's damning revelations about the Pulwama attack and corruption,” she added.

Alleging that the BJP has turned India into a “mafia republic”, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra said she believes that Atiq Ahmed was killed apparently to deflect the attention away from former Satyapal Malik’s recent interview repercussions.

“BJP has turned India into a mafia republic. I will say it here, I will say it abroad, I will say it everywhere because this is the truth. Two men in custody shot dead in front of a zillion policemen and cameras -- this is the death of the rule of law,” the TMC leader tweeted.

“I can even believe BJP got UP shooting done simply to deflect attention away from Satyapal Malik’s interview repercussions. Nothing, just nothing, is beyond this government,” she added.

It is to be noted that Satyapal Malik, in a recent interview to a news portal, had alleged that there were lapses in security protocol that led to the February 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

The former governor also claimed that a request by the paramilitary troops asking for an aircraft to commute was denied by the government, which in turn led to the jawans travelling by road.

In the interview, that stoked a political controversy, he also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "ill-informed" about the Jammu and Kashmir region.

Notably, gangster-turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night while they were being escorted by police personnel to a medical college in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj for a check-up.