'Attack Muzaffarabad in PoK': Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Kolkata, April 24 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and five-time former party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Thursday, demanded the strongest possible action against Pakistan following the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, saying that the Modi-led government should consider attacking Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“All parties have already made it clear that the Union government can even take Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir under its control if necessary. The kind of massacre that had been conducted by those who came from Pakistan and were nurtured in Pakistan is simply unthinkable. The Modi-led government should attack Muzaffarabad in PoK,” Chowdhury told IANS.

The Congress leader said that the Union government has already suspended the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), and efforts are being made on the part to cut diplomatic ties with Pakistan.

“The entire country demands the strongest retaliation against Pakistan. Nothing short of that can satisfy the Indian citizens,” Chowdhury told IANS.

He added that the event of global powers standing beside India amid the Pahalgam massacre has given the Union government the right opportunity to initiate the strongest possible action against Pakistan.

“I am no one to advise the Union government on this issue. But I strongly feel that this (attacking Pakistan) is the need of the hour,” Chowdhury added.

At least 26 tourists were killed on Tuesday after gunmen opened fire on innocent civilians in Baisaran in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to eyewitness accounts, a group of heavily armed terrorists emerged from the nearby forests and opened indiscriminate fire on civilians, most of whom were tourists.

Baisran is a small meadow three to four km from the Pahalgam market, and tourists take horses to reach the place as there is no motorable road to it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday morning after cutting his Saudi Arabia trip short due to the terror attack.

He had a brief meeting with NSA Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at the airport. PM Modi strongly condemned the terror attack on Tuesday, stating that the guilty will be brought to justice and reaffirming India’s “unshakable” resolve to fight terrorism.

--IANS

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