New Delhi:
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has paid tribute to the four soldiers killed on Monday in an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda. “Today, our soldiers were martyred in another terrorist encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. I pay my humble tribute to the martyrs and express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” he posted in Hindi on X Tuesday morning.
Mr Gandhi, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the number of such attacks on Indian soldiers in J&K in the past few months is “extremely sad and worrying”.
He also hit out at the government for the “poor condition of Jammu and Kashmir” and said the soldiers there are “bearing the brunt of the BJP’s wrong policies”. The “wrong policies” reference has been seen as an attack on the Modi government over the scrapping of Article 370 in J&K.”It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government should take full responsibility for repeated security lapses,” Mr Gandhi said and called for “strict action” against the terrorists.
However, Mr Gandhi also underlined the need for political unity at this time, and the importance of the opposition supporting the government as it responds to the increased terror threat.
“In this hour of grief, the entire country stands united against terrorism,” he said.
Four soldiers, including an officer, were killed in action in Doda district. The terrorists had attacked a joint operation – of the Army and J&K Police – formed to track them down.
Contact was made late Monday night, the Army had said.
The operation is ongoing, NDTV has been told.
Sources told NDTV Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi and took stock of the ground situation and ongoing operation in Doda.