The Jammu region, which remained relatively peaceful between 2005 and 2021 after security forces wiped out decades-long terrorism, witnessed 11 attacks in the last 78 days.
The Congress on Tuesday hit out at the Centre after four army personnel, including a Major-rank officer, were killed in an encounter in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday night.
Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi blamed the continuous loss of lives on BJP’s “wrong policies”, adding that the incidents were “sad and worrying”.“It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government should take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses and take strict action against the culprits who harm the country and the soldiers, “ wrote Rahul on X.
“These repeated terrorist attacks are revealing the poor condition of Jammu and Kashmir. Our soldiers and their families are bearing the brunt of BJP’s wrong policies,” he added.
The encounter in Doda comes a week after a similar terrorist ambush in the remote Machedi forest belt of Kathua district claimed the lives of five soldiers and injured as many. There has been a spurt in incidents of terror attacks in the Jammu division lately, prompting the police and security forces to launch joint combing and search operations at a massive scale.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also expressed his condolences on platform X. “The Modi government is acting as if everything is ‘business as usual’ and nothing has changed,” wrote Kharge. “They must know that increasingly the Jammu region is bearing the brunt of these attacks,” Kharge said. He urged the Centre to not endanger national security.
Highlighting the frequency of such terrorist attacks in the region, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh attacked Prime Minister Modi saying, “While we must demonstrate an effective collective response cutting across political parties, the question must also be asked: what happened to all those grand claims made by the self-anointed non-biological PM and the self-styled Chanakya?”
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, expressed her condolences and wishes to the bereaved families.
Congress leader Pawan Khera stated that the country wants answers. “Countries are not run on just slogans,” Khera said in Hindi on X.
Moreover, Congress leader Harish Rawat said the government would be supported in their steps to counter terrorism. “There is no place for violence in politics and democracy,” he said in a statement.
The Monday night encounter was the third major incident between security forces and terrorists in the Doda district in the past three weeks, PTI reported. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s office said he had spoken to the Chief of Army Staff and has been apprised of the ongoing anti-terror operation in the area. Source
