Amit Shah's 250 casualty figure shall be taken as 'ashanka': V K Singh

Union minister V K Singh said Tuesday BJP president Amit Shah's "more than 250" casualty figure after the air strike on a Jaish camp in Pakistan was based on his "ashanka" (suspicion) on the basis of intelligence gathered about people in the buildings hit by the IAF.

"Whenever such attacks take place, no witness is present on the ground. He cannot be present on the ground. You make an estimate on your intelligence gathering, which you have done earlier," the Minister of State for External Affairs said.

"Your intelligence is that these are the number of buildings. So many buildings have been hit. It's an estimate," Singh said on the figure given in the aftermath of the Balakot air strike.

"He (Amit Shah) is saying it is ashanka (suspected to have been killed). Let us take it as ashanka," he told reporters when asked how can the BJP president give the number of 250 casualties.

Singh trashed the Congress demand for evidence on the air strike and the number of casualties as "waste of time" and insisted military operations were a serious matter and not a "game of marbles".

The minister said no proof is given about action by the forces and asked whether anybody had got proof during wars since 1947.

Some opposition parties on Monday latched on to Shah's claim of 250 casualties in the Indian Air Force's strike to ask how he got such top-secret information.

The government has said a "very large number" of terrorists were killed in the preemptive air strike against Jaish-e-Mohammad camp on Feb 26.

On the varying casualty figures, Singh told reporters, "One way is to go there and count and come back. Secondly, what the information you have, you can assess it (figure) and that number is told to the people. Exact figure will be known only when you are there.

"This is not a game of marbles. This is a serious matter. Any action by the forces, no proof is given," he asserted.

Asked about his reaction on Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh describing the February 14 Pulwama terror attack an "accident", the former Army chief said, "With due respect, I would like to ask Digvijay Singh, whether Rajiv Gandhi's killing was a terror act or an accident?"
Reacting on the news, Mufti Tuesday tweeted, "Little surprise that with general elections around the corner, the josh of patriotism hasn't even spared the skies."