New Delhi: Political parties Saturday put up a united face as they underlined India’s determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack and expressed their solidarity with security forces in defending the country’s unity and integrity.
An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.
In the meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the former to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of the presidents of all major national and regional parties, a view endorsed by Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress and D Raja of the CPI.
The resolution adopted at the nearly two-hour meeting said, “India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges.”
It added, “Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India.”
The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the ‘neighbouring’ country.
Sanjay Raut, a member of BJP ally Shiv Sena, asked the government to draw inspiration from former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and hit Pakistan directly. He told reporters that an incident like Pulwama would not have happened if surgical strikes, which the Army had carried out across the Line of Control (LoC) in 2016, had made an impact.
In his opening remarks, Singh briefed the leaders about the attack and his visit Friday to Jammu & Kashmir.
“The government is determined to take its fight against terrorism to the logical conclusion. The sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain. The people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and are with us, but there are some elements supporting the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups,” he said. “The morale of security forces is high and they have been given a free hand,” asserted Singh.
The meeting was also attended by Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of TMC, Jithendra Reddy of TRS, Farooq Abdullah of National Conference and Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP among others. Others who attended the meeting were Naresh Gujral (Akali Dal), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Upendra Kushwaha (RLSP) and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD)
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters that parties extended their support to the government, as he read out from the resolution.
The issue of alleged harassment of some Kashmiri students outside the Valley was raised by Abdullah. The home minister assured him that nobody will be allowed to vitiate communal harmony.
PTI