ALL PARTIES BACK GOVT ON SURGICAL STRIKE
The Government on Thursday secured an unanimous support of all the political parties on the Indian Army’s surgical strikes against the terror camps in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at a meeting here chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The leaders of the political parties represented in Parliament were briefed about the actions by the senior security officials. Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that all parties supported the government action. He said the surgical strikes targeted 5-6 places across LoC along Kupwara and Poonch. "There was no casualty on the Indian side." Information that these terrorists were planning to attack some towns and important places prompted the Army to act, Naidu said.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who attended the meeting said the government briefed us about the surgical strikes and "we congratulated the forces for being successful in the operation."
Those who attended the all party meeting included Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, I & B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and NSA Ajit Doval from the government side besides BJP President Amit Shah, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, BSP''s Satish Mishra and RJD''s Prem Chand Gupta. Principal Secretary to PM Nripendra Singh was also present.
The Home Minister chaired the hurriedly called all-party meeting hours after DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh broke the news of the surgical strike on terror launch pads conducted Wednesday night.
Sushma Swaraj drove down to 10 Janpath before the all-party meeting to brief Sonia Gandhi about the development. Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh also met Sonia before her meeting with Swaraj.
Sonia, who is recovering from illness after she collapsed during her roadshow in Varanasi on August 2, reportedly congratulated Swaraj for the government sending a "strong message" to Islamabad.
Former Defence Minister and senior Congress leader A K Antony also hailed the government and the Indian army in the endevour to protect the national security.
Another Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is also Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, said: "I am very proud of the Indian Army, the real message has been sent to Pakistan. Well done. Whatever Indian Army did was very sensible, measured and proportionate form of retaliation."