Politicising LoC strikes is disservice to our jawans: Bitta

All India Anti-Terrorist Front Chairman MS Bitta on Thursday appealed to political parties not to "politicise" the Army's cross-LoC strikes, while stating that the Centre must declare Pakistan a "terrorist state".

"I am not going into what is being said by political leaders from various parties on the issue of surgical strikes. The thing is that this is the time when all of us should speak in one voice and back the government and our Army.

"Those doing politics over the issue are doing disservice to our jawans, who will get demoralised while Pakistan will stand to benefit from this," he said.

Hailing the decisive action taken by the government and the Army, Bitta said, "For the first time after Indira Gandhi, I am seeing anyone take a firm decision and have such clarity in approach. Earlier, our jawans used to get killed, but we used to talk.

"The question is not of Narendra Modi, the question is of nation's security. The government has taken a very clear stand and we must applaud them," he said.

Bitta said those people who were speaking in different voices at this juncture were "insulting those martyrs who laid down their lives for the sake of our nation."

"Those politicising the (LoC strike) issue are enemies of the country," he said.

Bitta, who survived a terrorist attack in Delhi in 1993 when he was the chief of the Youth Congress, said India should now take steps to get Pakistan declared as a "terrorist state."

"Our government should approach the United Nations in this regard. We should also take help of friendly countries to combat terror. India should take these countries along and seek their support to get Pakistan declared as a terrorist state," he added.

Nineteen soldiers were killed in a militant attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18. The army had launched surgical strikes targeting terror camps located across the LoC on September 28 night.