After meeting the victims of indiscriminate Pakistan shelling in the civilian areas in the Poonch and Rajouri towns along the Line of Control (LoC), a five-member team of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday returned with “broken hearts” after witnessing the human tragedy.

The team slammed the Central government for allegedly neglecting the victims in the border areas and while expressing solidarity with the victims assured them, “You are not alone. We are with you.”

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The TMC delegation, comprising MPs, Derek O’Brien, Sagarika Ghose, and Mohammad Nadim-ul- Haque, West Bengal Minister Manas Bhunia, and former parliamentarian Mamata Thakur, was on the last day of its three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

The TMC is the first national-level party to send its high-level team to the conflict-ravaged border towns of Uri in Kashmir and Poonch-Rajouri in Jammu. Local leaders of other parties, including the BJP, Congress, National Conference, and PDP have visited the affected places.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit the affected areas on Saturday.

Indiscriminate artillery shelling, missile and drone strikes by Pakistan in the Jammu region killed over 20 people and injured more than 70 between 8 and 10 May after India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ to target the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK in response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 innocent civilians were massacred.

The TMC team, after offering condolences to the victims at Poonch and Rajouri, said, “Neglected border villages are acutely vulnerable. Bunkers, hospitals, medical equipment – a big help package is urgently needed.”

“Following the directives of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerji, our 5-member delegation visited Poonch and Rajouri to stand in solidarity with the people devastated by the recent cross-border shelling,” the team added..

TMC MP Sagarika Ghose said that “the people of all communities have suffered the most. We are standing with them. We will continue to stand with them, the people of Bengal are with them, the people of the entire country are standing with them. For us, “Poonch Chalo” is not just a slogan, it is a commitment to an inclusive India”.

Earlier on arrival in Srinagar, the TMC team met J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who assured them that the government is doing everything possible to give medical help, rebuild schools, and give compensation.

“The TMC believes in the principle of federalism. We are fully in support of the elected government in J&K,” said Sagarika Ghose.

At the hospital in Rajouri, they met the injured, heard their accounts, and assured them of continued support and solidarity. The team also paid their respects at the residence of late Additional Deputy Commissioner Raj Kumar Thappa, who lost his life when a Pakistani artillery shell struck his house in Rajouri.

“The loss of civilian lives in Poonch and Rajouri due to heavy firing and shelling by Pakistan along the LoC has deeply pained us,” they said.

Ghose said, “We’ve witnessed the pain, suffering, and loss endured by the families in Poonch. We have seen firsthand their sorrow and grief. This has been a journey of sympathy, empathy, and solidarity.”

“The Thakur family of Poonch, the matriarch, Swarna Devi, and her daughters-in-law in their shell-smashed home. Do they ever think of leaving Poonch? ‘We are Hindus, but for generations we have lived with other faiths, Muslims and Sikhs. We will always live together. If need be, we will die together’,” Sagarika wrote on X.

She further wrote, “My heart keeps returning to Mrs Amarjit Singh in Poonch. A post graduate, a mother of two. She lost her husband in cross border shelling and her home is badly damaged. When I asked her what she would do now, she answered: I will raise my children. I will raise them alone.”

Derek O’Brien wrote on X; “What we’ve seen in the last two hours is deeply moving. It is not easy, in public life, to come and share thoughts with people who are grieving”.