Quick Take
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The Congress said it fully supports the Indian armed forces’ retaliatory strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and PoK after the Pahalgam massacre. Party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, applauded the military’s decisive action
New Delhi:
The Congress today said it fully supported the retaliatory action of the armed forces against the terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam massacre.
“Full support to our forces,” said senior Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. “Best wishes and much love. We completely support the armed forces,” he added.
Mr Gandhi confirmed that the Congress will be joining the all-party meet that will be held tomorrow.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has said that India has an unflinching national policy against all forms of terrorism emanating from Pakistan and PoK.
“We are extremely proud of our Indian Armed Forces who have struck terror camps in Pakistan and PoK. We applaud their resolute resolve and courage. Since the day of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian National Congress has categorically stood with the armed forces and the government to take any decisive action against cross-border terror,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“National unity and solidarity is the need of the hour and the Indian National Congress stands with our Armed Forces. Our leaders have shown the path in the past, and national interest is supreme for us,” Mr Kharge said in his post, using the hashtag #OperationSindoor.
The armed forces, greenlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, launched a massive strike against the terror camps last night.
The 25-minute precision strikes from 1.05 to 1.30 an demolished the headquarters of Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hafiz Sayeed’s Jamaat ud-Dawa and targetted camps across nine cities.
The missile strikes targeted terror camps across Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Bahawalpur, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, and Chakwal — areas that were under the scanner of intelligence agencies for long.
Twenty-five missiles were fired.
The army said 70 terrorists were neutralised.
Shortly after the April 22 attack in which 26 people were shot dead in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, India took a series of non-military measures that included putting a freeze on the Indus water treaty, shutting the Attari border and cancelling visas of Pakistan nationals.
The Operation Sindoor is India’s third retaliatory move against Pakistan-backed terror camps. Surgical strikes and air strikes were conducted after the terror attacks in Uri and Pulwama in 2016 and 2019.
But the latest operation was different from earlier instances in terms of both scale and scope. The joint operation by the Army and Air Force struck deep into Pakistan-occupied territory and represented an evolution in India’s strategic posture.