The Centre briefed political parties here on Thursday about the anti-terrorist operation carried out by the defence forces along the Line of Control. The Centre had also conveyed the details of the operations to Chief Ministers of several States and leaders of various Opposition parties.

Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after the hour-long meeting that all political parties unanimously supported the Army action. “The Home Minister explained the surgical strike, which was carried out by the Army to foil attempts by terrorists to carry out attacks not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also in some other towns,” he said.

In attendance at the meeting were Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI[M]), Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), Sharad Yadav (JD[U]), Prem Chand Gupta (RJD) and CM Ramesh (TDP) were present at the meeting, along with six ministers including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. BJP President Amit Shah was also present. Congress President Sonia Gandhi said in a statement that her party stands with the Centre in its actions. “This is a strong message that conveys our country’s resolve to prevent further infiltration and attacks on our security forces and our people. The party hopes that Pakistan will recognise that it bears a great responsibility in the continuing cross-border terrorist attacks against India. The party expects that Pakistan will take effective action to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism that it has supported and it ensures that its territory and the territory under its control is not used for terrorist purposes against India,” she said.

Azad, who is also Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said the meeting had congratulated the Army for the successful operation. “We have been told that there were heavy casualties on the other side and there was no harm to our soldiers,” he said.

A statement from the CPI(M) said: “The CPI(M) expects that there will be no further escalation of hostilities. The CPI(M) expresses the hope that now incidents like at Pathankot and at Uri will not recur,” it said and urged the Centre to continue with the diplomatic and political moves to defuse tensions.

RJD leader Prem Chand Gupta told BusinessLine that the parties congratulated the Army for the “sensitive” operation. He added that the leaders also supported the Centre in itd fight against cross-border terrorism.

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