New Delhi, May 8 - Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday briefed all political parties about the details of ‘Operation Sindoor’ and told them that at least 100 terrorists have been killed in precision military strikes on nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Singh said that ‘Operation Sindoor’ is not over yet.
Singh shared full details with the opposition and other parties and said that the strikes were to eliminate terrorists. He said that India had exercised its right to retaliate after the Pahalgam terror attack. Singh said that the action under ‘Operation Sindoor’ by the Indian armed forces was focused on selected terrorist training camps operating from Pakistan and PoK and during this, full vigilance was exercised to protect non-military facilities. Casualty figures in the operation have been formally shared with the opposition for the first time.
All opposition parties, led by the Congress, openly supported the government and India's response. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, "In this hour of crisis, we are with the government. We have heard everything they said. They said that matters related to defence and security are confidential in the interest of the country and we cannot tell everything. We all said that in this hour of crisis, we are all with you and whatever work you are doing, continue and we will be with you in the interest of the country."
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also said that the opposition fully supported the government. Gandhi said after the meeting in the Parliament complex, "We gave our full support. Some things cannot be discussed. Everyone supported the government."
AIMIM chief MM Owaisi praised the armed forces and the government for 'Operation Sindoor'. He said, “I also suggested that we should launch a global campaign against The Resistance Front (TRF). I said that the government should request the US to designate the TRF as a terrorist organisation. We should also try to get Pakistan included in the Grey list of the Financial Action Task Force.” The meeting was chaired by Rajnath Singh again in place of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Prime Minister is not here, he probably feels that he is above Parliament. We will ask these questions when the time comes. We do not want to criticise anyone at this time of crisis,” Kharge said. This was the second meeting between the ruling and opposition leaders in the last fortnight. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar, JP Nadda and Nirmala Sitharaman represented the government, while Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge from the Congress, Sandeep Bandopadhyay from the Trinamool Congress and TR Balu from the DMK were among the prominent opposition figures in the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Rajnath Singh.
Other opposition leaders included Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, AAP's Sanjay Singh, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut, NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule, BJD's Sambit Patra and CPI(M)'s John Brittas. JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, Union minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi were also part of the meeting.
Ahead of the meeting, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and briefed him on the current situation regarding India-Pakistan tensions. After India targeted nine terror launch pads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Pakistan on Wednesday resorted to heavy firing in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, killing 15 people and injuring over 50 others.