"Congress Gave Away PoK, BJP Will Get It Back": Amit Shah In Rajya Sabha

Union Home Minister Amit Shah issued a strong response to the Special discussion on Operation Sindoor in Rajya Sabha today -- complete with a message to terrorists, a promise to "get back Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir" and multiple jibes at the Opposition, especially the Congress. 

There was also a chilling detail from the minister about Operation Mahadev, in which, the government said, the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack was killed. 

"After Pahalgam terror attack, I had received a lot of calls from the relatives of the people who were killed. They requested me to kill these terrorists by firing bullet to their heads. Our officials killed them by shooting on their heads," said the minister. 

"The identity of 3 terrorists killed in Op Mahadev established Lashkar-e-Taiba's hand in Pahalgam attack," added Mr Shah, who had spent the night confirming that it was indeed the Pahalgam terrorists who were killed in the encounter with security forces near Srinagar on Monday with the help of ballistic reports.

The government had said the bullet casings recovered from the spot had a 99 percent match with the casings found in Pahalgam.

"I want to give a strong message that Kashmir will be free of terrorism," Mr Shah told the Upper House this evening. 

"I also met family members of Pahalgam terror attack... they all were wailing at the loss of their loved ones... Terrorists had killed their family members after asking their religion," he said.

The Home Minister's speech was preceded by protests by the Congress, which questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the house and replying to the discussion. The party then staged a walkout, skipping the minister's response. 

Unperturbed, the minister delivered a jibe: "The Congress gave away Pak-occupied-Kashmir to Pakistan, but BJP govt will get Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir back... Till now, they have not done anything to stop terrorists...they cannot listen to anything."