Congress distances from Digvijaya Singh’s stance on surgical strike

The government has not placed before Parliament or people the details of the incident until now, Digvijaya Singh said.

New Delhi, Jan 23: Congress on Monday distanced itself from statements made by its leader Digvijaya Singh over the surgical strike carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in 2016.

"The views expressed by senior leader Digvijaya Singh are his own and do not reflect position of Congress. Surgical strikes were carried out before 2014 by UPA government. Congress has supported and will continue to support all military actions that are in the national interest," tweeted AICC communication incharge Jairam Ramesh.

Digvijaya Singh targeted the BJP-led central government, alleging that it gave no proof of surgical strikes while claiming to have killed many terrorists. He alleged that the Narendra Modi dispensation was ruling the country through a "bundle of lies".

"They (Centre) talk about surgical strikes and that they have killed so many of them (terrorists) but there is no proof," Singh told a gathering during the Bharat Jodo Yatra here.

"Pulwama attack took place. Forty of our CRPF jawans were martyred. Why were they killed? The CRPF director requested that it (Pulwama) is a sensitive zone that CRPF jawans should be sent to Delhi from Srinagar through plane, but Modi ji refused it. Why did he refuse," he asked.

The government has not placed before Parliament or people the details of the incident until now, he said.

He claimed Pulwama is a hotbed of terrorism where all vehicles are checked and asked "why a Scorpio vehicle, which came from the opposite direction, was not checked" when the attack took place on a CRPF convoy.

On 29 September 2016, India conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and inflicted "significant casualties".

Pakistan, however, dismissed as "fabrication of truth" India's claim that it has conducted a military operation across the LoC to target terrorist launching pads, terming it as a "quest" by India to create media hype by rebranding cross-border fire as surgical strike.