BJP attacks I.N.D.I alliance leaders batting for talks with Pakistan amid Anantnag encounter

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday attacked the I.N.D.I alliance leaders who have been giving anti-India statements and are batting for talks with Pakistan even as the encounter with terrorists backed by the neighbouring country rages in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, BJP leader Sambit Patra condemned the statement by Congress leader Saifuddin Soz who said that India must not only hold talks with Pakistan but PM Modi should also try to understand what is going on in the minds of terrorists.

"I am surprised that even when such a situation (Anantnag encounter) is unfolding in the country, a few leaders give statements that are against the country. Congress leader Saifuddin Soz said that India must not only hold talks with Pakistan but PM Modi should also try to understand what is going on in the minds of terrorists...We condemn this statement," he said.

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He said that as far as NCP chief Farooq Abdullah and other leaders' statement backing talks with Pakistan are concerned, India has said a thousand times that talks and terror can never move together.

"Still, when soldiers are sacrificing their lives and when their last rites are being performed, such statements are being given - this is not only inappropriate but also sad. India will give an answer," said Patra.

Colonel Manpreet Singh, commanding officer of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles unit of the Army, Major Ashish Dhonchak, Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Bhat and a soldier were killed in the encounter with the terrorists at Gadole in the Kokernag area of Anantnag on Wednesday morning.

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Drones have been pressed into service to pinpoint the location of the terrorists who have taken positions in the forest area on a hilly terrain in the Anantnag district, officials said.

"The forces fired mortar shells on the terrain where they believe the terrorists are hiding, based on drone surveillance," the officials said.

The security forces have maintained a tight cordon in the area, they added.

On Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar's "Ramcharitmanas Potassium Cyanide" remark, Patra said,"...All the people of I.N.D.I alliance are full of venom for Hinduism and it is reflected in all of their statements...He says that Ramcharitmanas is Potassium Cyanide. Crores of people have their devotion placed in it..."

He added, "Those who have the audacity to call 'Ram' a venom are questioning the basic belief of this country and hurting it. Public will boycott them...."

With inputs from agencies