Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party and senior leader P. Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha, condemning the latter's proposal that the terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam attack could be of local origin and not infiltrators from Pakistan.
Shah asserted that there is tangible evidence proving the attackers' nationality, including Pakistani voter identification cards.
In the debate on 'Operation Sindoor', Shah was shocked by the recent statements of Chidambaram and raised an eyebrow over the motive behind questioning the nationality of the killers of 26 individuals in Baisaran Valley, Jammu and Kashmir.
Citing Chidambaram's previous term, the Home Minister stated, "It is surprising that a previous Home Minister of the nation is raising doubts regarding whether the attackers were Pakistani."
He then asked a sharply phrased question to the leader of Congress: "Whom do you wish to defend? What will you gain by defending Pakistan?"
Shah said that the government and intelligence agencies have ample evidence that terrorists had come from Pakistan. "They were Pakistanis. We have their voter ID numbers. The weapons used are in our possession. Even the chocolates recovered from them were made in Pakistan," he informed the House.
"Clean chit to Pakistanis being given by former Home Minister," he said with clear frustration.
Chidambaram, in a recent interview to the media, had expressed dismay at the government's lack of transparency in the probe into the April 22 terror attack. He questioned the speed of the investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), stating, "Have they caught the terrorists? Where did they hail from? I mean, for all we know, they may be homegrown terrorists. Why do you presume that they had come from Pakistan? There's no evidence of that."
While the Home Minister was speaking in the House, Opposition members like Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav cut him short, blaming the Centre for failing to prosecute the attackers despite over 100 days since the attack.
In turn, Shah responded that security forces had already eliminated those behind the attack, calling it a huge achievement. "The terrorists who perpetrated the April 22 attack were eliminated in an operation. This is an unprecedented achievement by our forces," he replied.
He also targeted the Opposition's response to the murders of the attackers. "Doesn't killing of terrorists bring smile on your faces?" he chastised, faulting their lack of appreciation.
I thought all Parliamentarians would welcome the news of the elimination of the terrorists. But this reaction is disappointing. National security issues are ones where we need to move above partisanship. We should not react on religious or ideological grounds," Shah said.
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