Capt Amarinder hails surgical strikes; cautions against creating panic along border

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 29

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday welcomed the surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to smash terrorist training and launching camps there.

In a statement issued here today, he said it was highly required since Pakistan had failed to take measures that would stop attacks on Indian soil and installations and was rather continuously in a denial mode.

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He also cautioned against evacuating people from the border areas without any proper arrangements. “Please don't try to create war refugees without, or at least, before the actual war,” he warned.

The former chief minister said India was left with no option but to resort to the surgical operations against the terrorists. “The strikes have proved India's charge beyond any doubt that the terrorists were being trained in and launched from Pakistan or PoK with the help of the Pakistan army.

Capt Amarinder congratulated the Indian Army for the cleanly executed strikes which have left many terrorists dead. More than that, he added, it has exposed Pakistan's complicity which otherwise it has been denying so far.

At the same time, the PCC president cautioned against creating panic along the border belt in Punjab by asking people living within 10 km of international border to move out.

He said such measures are not really required at this stage. “Rather we did not evacuate people, up to 10 km of international border, during the 1965 War,” he said, adding this was absolutely uncalled for.

Speaking from his personal experience in the 1965 War, Amarinder said he has seen people harvesting their crops while shelling was going on between two armies. He said asking people to move out was wrong as it will lead to their unnecessary harassment and misery.

Besides, Capt Amarinder added, the harvesting season was already on as the paddy had ripened. He said, it is an ill-advised move on part of the government, whether the state or the Centre, to ask the villagers to vacate their places at this time and that too when there are no arrangements in place for their stay. "Where will they go, where will they live, what will they eat and what will happen to their crops," he asked.