People believe Modi govt will punish Pulwama perpetrators: LS

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan Sunday said people of the country are "taken aback" and "bewildered" by the Pulwama terror attack but not "frustrated" as they believe the perpetrators will be punished by the Narendra Modi government.

Forty CRPF troopers were killed on Thursday in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir after a Jaish-e-Mohammed operative rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy.

"Countrymen are taken aback by this terror incident but they are not frustrated because people believe they have a strong leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will surely teach a lesson to the terrorists," Mahajan said at a BJP programme here.

"The prime minister has given complete freedom to the country's armed forces to act against the terrorists," she added.

Mahajan expressed concern over the martyrdom of a large number of Indian soldiers and emphasised on a solution for the Kashmir problem.

Speaking about the suicide bomber who carried out the Pulwama attack, she said, "People are bewildered by this incident. I have used the word bewildered in the context that, after all, what happened which led a young man of the country to get associated with terrorists two years ago and became a terrorist himself.