Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Saturday visited Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district and met the victims of cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops during recent hostilities between the two countries.
The Poonch sector was witness to heightened artillery and mortar shelling after India carried out precise strikes under Operation Sindoor on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7 in response to the deadly April 22 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
This was Mr Gandhi's second visit to the Union territory since the deadly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Mr Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, visited the families of the victims and promised that he would raise their issues at the national level.
"Broken houses, scattered belongings, moist eyes, and painful stories of losing loved ones in every corner - these patriotic families bear the biggest burden of war with courage and dignity every time. Salute to their courage. I stand strongly with the victim families - I will definitely raise their demands and issues at the national level," he said in a post in Hindi.
He also interacted with school students in Poonch and assured them that everything would become normal again. "Now, you have seen danger and a little bit of a frightening situation, but don't worry, everything will come back to normal. Your way of responding to this problem should be that you study and play really hard and make a lot of friends in school," he told them.
He later spoke to reporters about his visit and said there has been "huge damage".
"I spoke with the people and tried to understand their problems. They have requested me to raise this issue on the national level, and I will do that," Mr Gandhi said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have increased following the Pahalgam attack, which left 26 people dead.
India, after finding cross-border links to the attack, launched "Operation Sindoor" on May 7 and struck terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Pakistan then launched a massive missile and drone attack, but the threats were thwarted. In retaliation, Indian forces struck airfields in Pakistan. A ceasefire on May 10 ended the hostilities.
(With agency inputs)
