Political parties cutting across party lines on Thursday hailed the armed forces for conducting ‘Operation Sindoor’ against terror hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir to avenge the April 22 Pahalgam terror attacks.
The gesture of unity was displayed across all political parties at the All Party meeting held today in the wake of ‘Operation Sindoor.’
“All parties supported the military action… The meeting was positive. All parties hailed armed forces,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told newsmen after the meeting.
The Centre has called an all-party to brief political leaders on the military strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces targeting the terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who chaired the meeting, briefed party leaders that at least 100 terrorists were killed in Indian strikes under Operation Sindoor.
“In Operation Sindoor, precise strikes were carried out on 9 terrorist hideouts. Around 100 terrorists were killed,” a leader who attended the meeting said quoting Rajnath Singh.
“We do not wish to escalate the situation. But if Pakistan acts, we will not back down either,” the Defence Minister had reportedly said while briefing the All Party meeting.
Coming out from the meeting Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said: “At this hour of crisis we are with the government. We don’t want to create any controversy at this hour.”
However, at the meeting Mr Kharge had raised questions about the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister, he pointed out, had also skipped the previous all-party meeting held after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Praising the Indian Army for Operation Sindoor, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said: “We are proud of our armed forces.” He further said: “We have extended our full support to the government.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi complimented the government and the armed forces for carrying out Operation Sindoor.
During the meeting Mr Owaisi urged the government to lobby with the US to get The Resistance Front designated as a terrorist organisation.
“I have complimented our armed forces and the government for Operation Sindoor…..I also suggested that the government should request the USA to designate it as a terrorist organisation. We should also make efforts to grey-list Pakistan in FATF,” Mr Owaisi said after the meeting.
Pakistan was delisted from the Financial Action Task Force’s document after four years in 2022. FATF is a global watchdog that monitors terror financing.
From the government side of the meeting, besides Rajnath Singh and Kiren Rijiju, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Bharatiya Janata Party chief and Health Minister J P Nadda, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also attended the meeting.
On the opposition front the meeting, other than Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Asaduddin Owaisi, was also attended by Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MP Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav, Trinamool Congress’ MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP TR Baalu, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Prem Gupta, YSR Congress’ MP YV Subba Reddy, Biju Janata Dal MP Sasmit Patra, Communist Party of In dia-Marxist MP John Brittas, and Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh.