Congress says Pahalgam terror attack was security failure

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack was an intelligence and security failure for which Union Home Minister Amit Shah is responsible and he should own responsibility.

The party also observed that the country’s defence forces were hundred per cent successful but Prime Minister Narendra Modi “failed” as a leader.

“Operation Sindoor was a complete military success while Modi was a political failure,” AICC Ex-Servicemen Department chairperson Rohit Chaudhry said at a press conference.

“We also request the government to tell the people how the Pahalgam attack happened and how we launched Operation Sindoor. I have never seen terrorists kill people one by one, find a safe route and then escape. This is a huge failure of security, a failure of the Home Ministry,” he said.

The Congress leaders maintained that Indian defence forces had attained complete superiority and dominance over Pakistan before the sudden “ceasefire” was announced by US President Donald Trump.

Chaudhry said India under the political leadership of Indira Gandhi and the military leadership of Field Marshal Manekshaw had achieved complete dominance over Pakistan in 1971 and broken it into two parts. The defence forces this time had achieved the same dominance but the political leadership led by Prime Minister Modi “failed” and succumbed to pressure by accepting the “ceasefire” thrust by the United States, he alleged.

“We were winning, our Army was foiling Pakistan’s drones, missiles and all other types of attacks… It was the fourth day of the battle, but suddenly in the evening a ceasefire was announced.

“The ceasefire was announced from American soil, which is a matter of shame for us. The country was united in this entire situation but the government imposed a ceasefire on us,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi’s allegations repeated

Chaudhry repeated Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s allegations to hit out at External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and said it was “backstabbing” of the defence sources.

“PM Modi should reply to Trump by showing strength like Indira Gandhi ji and say ‘we do not accept mediation, we will take our own decisions’. The foreign minister says that we had informed Pakistan before the operation. This is a blatant betrayal of the country because you have put the entire country, the Army and the soldiers at stake,” he said.

Saluting the valour and courage of the Indian Army in this entire episode, Chaudhry said the Congress party has decided to hold ‘Jai Hind’ meetings from May 24 to 31 and go among the people.

‘Jai Hind’ meetings will be held in 16 cities in the first phase in which the bravery of our soldiers will be saluted.

‘Shah must own up the responsibility’, says Chaudhry

Referring to the Pahalgam attack, Chaudhry said Shah must own up the responsibility as there was complete intelligence and security failure, which directly comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

He pointed out that Shah had reviewed the security situation just two weeks before the attack and claimed everything was fine. He, however, added, PM Modi had reportedly cancelled his visit, apparently after some intelligence inputs.

He asked if they had got these inputs, why did they not take any precautionary measures.

He demanded that Agniveer soldiers who laid down their lives during Operation Sindoor should be treated at par with the regular soldiers in terms of respect, honour and compensation without any discrimination.

Wg Cdr Anuma Acharya (retd) reiterated the party’s questions and asked how the intelligence failure happened and why the terrorists have not been arrested so far. She said the country wants to know why “ceasefire” was announced so suddenly and that too by a third party.

She was referring to the understanding reached between India and Pakistan on May 10 to stop military conflict and announced as “ceasefire” by Trump on social media.

Acharya, Madhya Pradesh Congress general secretary, demanded that the May 25 meeting of the NDA chief ministers with Prime Minister Modi on the issue of national security should also include the non-NDA chief ministers.

“What is their crime for not being invited to the meeting?” she asked.

She said the party will hold ‘Jai Hind’ meetings across the country and these meetings will be held at 16 places at the state and district level in the last week of May.