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Army, govt may face questions over surgical strikes at parl panel meet today
The army and foreign ministry brass may face questions on Tuesday at a parliamentary panel meeting about strikes conducted last month against temporary militant bases across the Line of Control.
The army and foreign ministry brass may face questions on Tuesday at a parliamentary panel meeting about strikes conducted last month against temporary militant bases across the Line of Control.
This will be the second briefing on the army operations in neighbouring country’s soil to parliamentarians in a week. The defence panel was briefed last week after some Congress MPs demanded the same.
But unlike the first meeting, where panel chairman, BJP’s BC Khanduri, didn’t encourage members to seek clarifications, some Opposition members in the foreign affairs panel want to seek more clarity over the strikes conducted on Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir on October 18.
“There are no restrictions so far on asking questions. We may seek more information, if necessary” said an Opposition member in the panel.
Read| Credit to all Indians over surgical strikes, major share goes to PM: Parrikar
The parliamentary standing committee on external affairs is also headed by a non-BJP member—Congressman Shashi Tharoor—and it might help members to pose a few queries to the government.
“Briefing by the foreign secretary, home secretary, defence secretary and director general of military operations (DGMO) on the subject ‘Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC)’,” said the notice for the meeting.
The strikes have led to political debate within India as parties such as the Congress say the government must reveal more details and “proof” to counter Pakistan’s propaganda that the army operation never took place.
Read| India trashes Pakistani media report that called surgical strikes a ‘bluff’
