Congress wants strong rebuttal of 'no surgical strikes' claim

The Congress fully supports the government on the surgical strikes, but the government should strongly rebut Pakistan's denial of the Indian Army action, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said on Tuesday.

"We have no doubt about the surgical strikes, as claimed by the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and the Government of India. The Congress party from day one has fully supported the operation. And, we are proud of the fact that the Indian Army has done an excellent job," Singh told India Today news channel.

"The only problem is that a doubt is being created -- and forget about the Pakistani media, whom we don't give any credence -- since even the United Nations official spokesperson is quoting UN observers in the Kashmir Valley saying they did not directly witness any surgical strikes," he said.

"Now this has put us in a difficult situation. If an independent, autonomous body like the United Nations is making an official statement, then it becomes necessary for the government to counter it."

The Congress leader said that it is for the government to decide how they would do it, but the government has to "strongly rebut the claim that no surgical strike took place".

Digvijaya also took exception to another senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam's remarks that the "strikes were fake".

"I think he (Sanjay Nirupam) should not have called it 'farzi' (fake). We have no doubts about the veracity of the strike," Singh added.

--IANS

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