All-party meeting on Pulwama terror attack begins

An all-party meeting on the Pulwama terror attack has started here Saturday and the Union government is expected to brief top leaders of different parties on steps being taken by it to meet the challenge.

The meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation, is being attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

The parties will be briefed about the attack in Pulwama and the steps being taken by the government so far, a home ministry official said.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav are among others who are attending the meeting.

As many as 40 CRPF jawans were killed in one of the biggest terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for it.

Political parties have closed ranks following the attack and have offered their support to the NDA government on its response on the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked tough and asserted that those behind it will be punished, and his government has launched a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan within the international community.