All-party meeting: India speaks in one voice against terror attack

An all-party meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, condemned the "dastardly" Pulwama attack in Kashmir on Thursday killing 44 CRPF personnel, with a unanimous resolution that says" entire nation speaks in one voice" and stands by the security forces to fight the challenges of cross-border terrorism.

"We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border,"

said the resolution adopted at the meeting held in the Parliament House, noting three decades of the cross-border terrorism faced by India. Rajnath Singh briefed leaders of the opposition parties about the security situation in Kashmir and noted PM Modi''s declaration of a free hand to the security forces to deal with the terrorism.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Congress and all parties stand with the government for unity and security of the nation and security forces. He said the Congress gives its full support to the govt in the fight against terrorism, be it Kashmir or any other part of the nation. He said: “The entire nation is in mourning today, is angry.”

Azad said all leaders requested the Home Minister to urge the PM on behalf of them to convene another meeting of the presidents of all national and regional parties. He said barring war, such a large number of security personnel have been killed in an attack for the first time since 1947. "We stand with our security forces - Army, CRPF, local police. The entire nation stands with them," he said.

Those who attended the meeting included Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of Congress, Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay of Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar of Nationalist Congress Party, Farooq Abdullah of National Conference, A Navaneethakrishnan of AIADMK, D Raja of CPI, among others. Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack, but government agencies are still investigating about patrons of the attack by the suicide bomber in a car filled with bombs.