New Delhi: The Indian army and foreign ministry top brass including the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) might face questions from the Opposition on Tuesday on surgical strikes conducted across the Line of Control (LoC) early on September 29.
According to reports, this will be the second briefing on army operations in PoK to parliamentarians within a week. The defence panel was briefed last week after some Congress MPs demanded it.
However, this time, the MPs will be allowed to ask questions. During the first briefing, panel chairman BJP’s BC Khanduri did not encourage members to seek clarifications. Following this, some Opposition members in the foreign affairs panel want to seek more clarity over the strikes.
“There are no restrictions so far on asking questions. We may seek more information, if necessary”, an Opposition member on the panel was quoted as saying.
The parliamentary standing committee on external affairs is headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, which might help members to pose a few queries to the government.
“Briefing by the foreign secretary, home secretary, defence secretary and director general of military operations (DGMO) on the subject ‘Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC)’,” said the notice for the meeting. Before the previous briefing, ‘surgical strikes’ had been removed from the title, leading to protest by some members.
The strikes, though initially supported by all parties, have led to a political battle. Congress has said the government must reveal more details and “proof” to counter Pakistan’s propaganda that the army operation never took place.
Rahul Gandhi had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in political exploitation of the sacrifices made by soldiers. His “khoon ki dalali” remark had drawn strong criticism from the government, BJP and some other parties.
The Uri Army base was attacked by heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists on September 18, in which 19 soldiers were killed. In a well-calibrated retaliatory action, the Indian army carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC on the intervening night of September 28 and 29.
