Pulwama attack: Congress questions Modi govt's policy on terrorism, Pak

New Delhi, Feb 14: The Congress on Thursday trained its gun on the PM Modi-led government at the Centre over the terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in South Kashmir's Pulwama which left around 40 jawans martyred.

The Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of "failing" to check terrorism emanating from Pakistan and remaining a "mute spectator" to attacks on security personnel, after 39 CRPF men were killed in a suicide attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulawama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Terming the attack in Pulwama as an "act of cowardice", Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned the government policy on terrorism and Pakistan and said the Prime Minister should not compromise on national security.

This is the 18th major terror attack under the very nose of Modi government...every day our jawans are martyred on the borders facing terrorists coming from Pakistan or in skirmishes and attacks that happened unprovoked from Pakistan Army. Yet our government remains a mere spectator, he said.

"Almost 5,000 ceasefire violations have taken place unprovoked by Pakistani Army yet Modiji remains mum. 448 jawans have been martyred in Jammu and Kashmir alone while 280 civilians have died in Pakistan sponsored terror attacks ...yet unfortunately Prime Minister has more faith in the dreaded ISI which is the benefactor, protector and harbinger of terrorism and invites them to investigate Pathankot Air Base attack," he alleged.

He urged the Modi government not to compromise on national security "in this fashion". The Congress spokesperson alleged that it was the most "weak" government in the history of India which has "utterly failed in defending India's borders and in checking terrorism coming from Pakistan".

He also slammed Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks there has been no major terror attack in the country in the last four-and-half-years due to the action of intelligence agencies.

"The tragic part is that the home minister of the country is most ill-informed and that is the reason why terrorist outfits and terrorists including the ISI and the Pakistan Army continue to act unabated. Is it not true there have been 17 major terror attacks across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab? Does the minister not have this much of general knowledge. Does the minister not know that his colleague replied in Parliament and said that the number of skirmishes and ceasefire violation have doubled in 2018 compared to 2017," Surjewala said.

Around 40 jawans were killed and several injured when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with over 300 kg of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district today. The Jaish-e-Mohammad bomber, a Kashmiri local who carried out a suicide strike on a bus carrying CRPF jawans, had loaded his vehicle with over 300 kilograms of explosives.

OneIndia News with PTI