Pakistan root of terrorism, Congress responsible, says Amit Shah

Participating in a special discussion in the Parliament on Operation Sindoor and Pahalgam terrorist attack Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Pakistan was the root of all terrorism and that the neighbouring nation was a mistake committed by the CongressldquoHad they rejected Partition there would have been no Pakistanrdquo he added Shah said a blunder by the main opposition party led to the creation of Pakistan and claimed that Pakoccupied Kashmir was the legacy of first prime minister Jawaharlal NehruShah also slammed successive Congress governments for failing to capitalise on opportunities to reclaim lost territories from Pakistan and wondered how the opposition party was targeting the Modi government for not launching an allout war against IslamabadCongress leader Mallikarjun KhargeldquoAll roots of terrorism lead back to Pakistan And Pakistan itself is the result of the Congress partyrsquos blunder Had they not accepted the idea of partition Pakistan would never have come into existencerdquo Shah said Had the Congress opposed partition the problem of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir would never have occurred he saidTalking about Operation Sindoor he said Indian forces attacked targets 100 km inside Pakistan and India could expose state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan He said Indiarsquos armed forces crippled Pakistanrsquos defence systems in such a manner that the neighbouring country had no choice but to request India to halt attacksldquoIn 1948 Indian armed forces were in a decisive position to take back Pakistan occupied Kashmir but then PM Jawaharlal Nehru declared unilateral ceasefirerdquo he said In 1971 Shah said 93000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered and India had 15000 sq km of Pakistan territory under control but still PoK was not taken backDuring the 1962 war with China then PM Nehru bade goodbye to Assam in a speech on Akashvani he said Shah said between 2005 and 2011 there were 27 terrorist attacks but what did the Congress government do they just sent dossiers to PakistanShah said the Prevention of Terrorism Act POTA was scrapped by the then Manmohan Singh government in its first cabinet meeting after coming to power in 2004 ldquoThe country deserves to know who benefitted from Congress repealing POTA Those opposed to POTA will never appreciate Narendra Modirsquos antiterror policiesrdquo he saidPahalgam terrorists killedShah claimed that three of the terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam massacre have been eliminated by security forces in a joint operation by the Army CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police near Srinagar The terrorists were killed Monday in an operation dubbed Mahadev but officials had held back in identifying them conclusively as the Pahalgam attackersShah said the identity of the terrorists was confirmed by those detained for sheltering and providing them with food ahead of the Pahalgam attack The empty cartridges found at Pahalgam and those after test firing by the guns recovered from the terrorists were matched by the forensic lab Shah said The ballistic report is with him he added Shah said security forces had recovered Pakistani voter IDs of two of the killed terrorists as well as chocolates made in Pakistan and the weaponsAgenciesGovt must accept lapses KhargeLeader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said Amit Shah must take responsibility for the ldquosecurity lapserdquo which led to the Pahalgam terror attack and demanded that accountability be fixed The Congress chief attacked the government and took a jibe at PM Narendra Modirsquos unscheduled visit to Pakistan in 2015 Kharge further said the PM should have been present at an allparty meet instead of campaigning in Bihar and questioned Modirsquos sincerity towards national security Demanding accountability the he said the government should admit its lsquolapsesrsquo and lsquofailurersquo in stopping terror attacks He further accused the Modi govt of being arrogantOperation Sindoor will continue PM ModiPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asserted that Operation Sindoor will continue stating it is a notice to Pakistan that India will always act till Pakistan stops attacks No country in the world has stopped India from taking action in its defence against terrorism he said But lamented that while the nation got support from the entire world the Congress could not stand behind the valour of the countryrsquos soldiersPrime Minister Narendra Modi speaks in Lok Sabha PICPTIModi said Pakistani airbases hit by India ldquoare still in ICUrdquo and the masterminds of the April 22 terror attack are still having sleepless nights ldquoIndia got support from the entire world but it is unfortunate that the Congress did not support the valour of our soldiers Congress leaders targeted me for political gains but their frivolous statements ended up discouraging our brave soldiersrdquo said ModiThe PM noted that India called out Pakistanrsquos nuclear bluff and showed the world that ldquowe will not bow down to nuclear blackmailrdquo ldquoPakistan knows they have to pay a huge price for any misadventure India will come for themrdquoGovt lacks political will Rahul GandhiLeader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the government of lacking the political will to support the Indian armed forces and claimed it revealed sensitive details about Operation Sindoor to PakistanldquoRajnath Singh said Operation Sindoor began at 105 AM and that by 135 AM India had already called Pakistan to inform them that we had hit nonmilitary targets and that we did not want escalationrdquo Gandhi saidThe Congress leader claimed that the DGMO was instructed to seek a ceasefire just 30 minutes after the launch of the operation Gandhi also accused the government of undermining the morale and effectiveness of the armed forces by imposing limitationsWhy was war stoppedAttacking PM Modi Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said leadership is not just about taking credit but also taking responsibility and claimed that US President Donald Trump announcing the ceasefire between India and Pakistan reflects the PMrsquos ldquoirresponsibilityrdquoThe Congress MP said HM Shah talked about Jawaharlal Nehru Indira Gandhi even her motherrsquos tears but did not answer ldquowhy the war was halted at a time when the enemy had nowhere to gordquoWas no government agency in the know that such a dastardly terror attack is going to happen and a plot is being hatched in Pakistan she asked ldquoIt is a big failure of our government and intelligence agenciesrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever