Pawar hails govt on PoK strikes, slams those seeking proofs

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar today supported the Narendra Modi government over surgical strikes by Army in PoK, saying it was necessary to teach a lesson to terrorists and those exporting terror and similar action were taken during the UPA regime but the then government did not boast about them.
The former Defence Minister also slammed those seeking evidence of the Army action, saying they were "foolish and most irresponsible".
"The government and Indian Army's decision (to carry out the cross-LoC surgical strikes) was absolutely right for teaching a lesson to the terrorists and those exporting terror," Pawar said during a meet-the-press programme here.

He, however, said it would not be in the national interest to discuss about the Army operation.
"No other government or country normally discusses such things on public platforms...No country is insane to talk publicly about the military operations," he said.
"It is foolish and most irresponsible on the part of those demanding evidence of surgical strikes by the Army...It will be unnecessarily discussing the operational details of Army in public domain," the NCP chief said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Sanjay Nirupam have sought proof in support of the claim that the Indian Army had conducted the strikes across the LoC in PoK targeting seven terror launch pads.

Earlier, while speaking at a party convention here, he said, "There were four surgical strikes (across the LoC) when we (UPA) were in power. However, we did not publicise it."
Congratulating the Modi government over the surgical strikes, Pawar objected to the Army operation being made public. "Some things should not be made public," he said.
"Our government carried out surgical strikes in Myanmar, but our operation was limited and we never tried to capitalise on it," he said.
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When asked about his likelihood of becoming the next President, Pawar said a party with just a handful of MPs in Parliament cannot even think about it. "Our feet are firmly on the ground," Pawar said.

On the ongoing protests by the Maratha community over their several demands, including that of reservation, Pawar said no political leader from the community was behind it.
"The agitation is a spontaneous expression of the community against their present state of affairs," he said.
Replying to a query, he said his party was not in favour of repealing of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but supported amendments to it.