LOC, Valley calm; Congress unites against Kashmir move
Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka avoid speaking directly against the government’s move to revoke Article 370 but criticise NDA for not following procedures
Guns have been silent on the Line of Control (LOC) and there are no reports of violence in the Valley ever since the withdrawal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation, according to a security assessment.
The only incident of a cease-fire violation in recent days was reported on the night of Aug.5 from the Machil sector of J&K’S Kupwara district when an infiltration bid by five to six armed militants was foiled and a soldier was also injured.
On the other hand, the number of ceasefire violations at the LOC had peaked in the month of July.
The spurt in firing in July coincided with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington. The month saw 272 ceasefire violations, the highest in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Congress which was split over abrogation of Article 370 relating to Jammu and Kashmir, presented a united front at the Congress Working Commitee (CWC) meeting, party sources said.
A senior Congress leader who participated in the CWC meeting - the party’s top decision making body - on Tuesday, said that leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deepender Singh Hooda and others, who have spoken against the party line, were on the back foot during the meeting.
However, he said even Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, outgoing party chief Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra avoided speaking directly against the government’s move to revoke Article 370 from J&K but criticised the Bjp-led NDA government for the way in which it was done without following procedures.
Sharing the details of the meeting, the party leader said, “Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke for over 45 minutes during the CWC meeting. During his speech he explained the process how Article 370 and 35A were brought into existence in the state.”
The party leader said former union minister Jitin Prasada during the meeting pointed out that the people across the country are in favour of the NDA government on Article 370.
“To this (former Finance Minister) P Chidambaram said that same thing cannot be said for the Tamil Nadu where people have a different take,” said the party leader who asked not to be named. Scindia, while speaking at the CWC meeting, said he tweeted what the people of the country felt.
Scindia said that he questioned the way the BJP government revoked the Article 370 from J&K. “But the Gandhi family and other leaders did not support him on this,” the party leader said.
He pointed out that former Rohtak MP Hooda also defended his tweet over Article 370 saying he had tweeted similarly ater the Pulwama terror atack and questioned the way the situation was tackled by the government.
The party leader further pointed out that former union minister RPN Singh questioned the party leadership over what should be the way out of the situation as people were favouring the idea of the government to revoke Article 370 in J&K.
Singh also asked the party leadership about the political message instead of highlighting the technicality before going to the people.
According to defence officials, the hinterland of J&K has witnessed no major incident of violence over the past three days while the LOC too has remained unusually calm.
“There are no directions as of now for deployment of additional forces in the Valley. Situation across the Valley has been peaceful over the past three days with no violence reported from the hinterland or cease-fire violations at the border,” a senior army official said.
On the intervening night of July 31 and Aug.1, at least five to seven special services personnel of Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) were gunned down by alert troops in the Keran sector of Kupwara during an infiltration bid.
“Four bodies were sighted on the Indian side of the border. Pakistan was informed about it. However, they are yet to claim the dead bodies which are still lying near a forward post of the sector,” added the official.
The Indian armed forces suffered six casualties during cease-fire violations by Pakistan between January and Aug.7. The second highest number of cease-fire violations in the year was recorded in March when both countries were in a conflict over the Pulawama incident and the subsequent air strikes carried out by the IAF in Balakot.