The Opposition Congress on Tuesday doubled down on its attack on the Narendra Modi government, asking if terrorists like Azhar Masood and Hafiz Saeed could escape because Pakistan was informed in advance about the Operation Sindoor strikes.

“…We want to ask the political leadership of this country that you informed Pakistan beforehand, is this the reason why Azhar Masood and Hafiz Saeed could escape?” asked Congress leader Pawan Khera.

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Responding to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s Nishan-e-Pakistan jibe on Rahul Gandhi, Khera said that their leader and former PM Morarji Desai was the only Indian politician awarded the highest civilian award of Pakistan.

“Some more people deserve Nishan-e-Pakistan, like Lal Krishna Advani and the person who went to eat biryani with Nawaz Sharif without being invited. We think he will get Nishan-e-Pakistan. There is another person who deserves Nishan-e-Pakistan- the one who said ‘at the start of the action’. These are the words of EAM Dr S Jaishankar, who informed Pakistan that we are taking action only on terrorist hideouts,” Khera remarked.

Taking a dig at External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Congress leader said: “He has very close relations with America. So now let’s see what award he gets from which country.”

The Congress has launched a fierce attack on the BJP after Jaishankar’s purported remark that at the start of Operation Sindoor, India informed Pakistan about its strikes on terror sites.

Speaking to a news agency, Jaishankar had said, “At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying, ‘We are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military. So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice.”

After this, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked if Islamabad was informed in advance about the Operation Sindoor strikes and how many aircraft the Indian Air Force lose as a result.

“Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that the GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?” said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi.

However, the MEA clarified that Jaishankar’s remarks were misinterpreted and that Pakistan was informed after the strikes on terror camps.