Congress highlights background to Sindoor debate, Trump's ceasefire claims

Business Standard

7 days ago

Ahead of a discussion in Parliament on Operation Sindoor, the Congress on Sunday recapitulated the events forming the backdrop to the debate, prominent among them US President Donald claiming "26 times" since May 10 that he stopped Operation Sindoor by threatening to cut off trade with India.
The opposition party said the debate was a long time coming, but "better late than never." "The Lok Sabha is scheduled to begin a 16-hour debate on Pahalgam-Op Sindoor tomorrow and the Rajya Sabha is set to do so the day after tomorrow. The INC had been demanding a special two-day session of Parliament immediately after Operation Sindoor was abruptly halted. That demand was ignored. Nevertheless, better late than never," party leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
The Pahalgam terror attack took place on April 22, but the terrorists directly responsible have still not been brought to justice, the party's general secretary, in-charge, communications, said.
Reportedly, they were involved in earlier terror attacks in Poonch (December 2023) and Gangagir and Gulmarg (October 2024), Ramesh said.
At the request of the Congress, an all-party meeting was held and chaired, not by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as demanded, but by the Defence Minister on April 24, where questions on intelligence lapses were raised, he said.
On May 30, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan made significant revelations on tactical mistakes in the first two days of Operation Sindoor, he said. These revelations were made in Singapore.
"On June 29, 2025, the Indian Defence Attache in Indonesia, Group Captain Shiv Kumar, said that political decisions hampered military operations during Operation Sindoor and also appeared to have indicated the extent of our aircraft losses," he said.
On July 4, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Rahul R Singh revealed that India contended with and battled against China during Operation Sindoor, both in terms of hardware and software, Ramesh said, calling it a "completely new scenario." "On July 14, 2025, the LG of J&K Manoj Sinha publicly admitted that the Pahalgam terror attacks were undoubtedly a security failure," he said.
Ramesh also highlighted that since May 10, Trump has claimed "26 times" that he stopped Operation Sindoor by threatening to cut off trade with India.
Trump also claimed that five fighter jets may have been shot down, the Congress leader pointed out.
"He (Trump) has hosted the Pakistan Army Chief for lunch which has never been done before. The US Central Command Chief, Gen. Michael Kurilla, had called Pakistan a phenomenal partner in counter-terrorism operations. And just the day before yesterday the US Secretary lauded Pakistan in his meeting with its Deputy PM," Ramesh said.
He said the outlandish claims made by sections of the Indian media during Operation Sindoor, "with instigation by the PM's media managers," led to a mockery of whatever serious narrative was sought to be built up.
The narrative had more takers at home than in countries where an outreach took place, Ramesh said.
Opposition parties have agreed to a special discussion on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor on Monday in Lok Sabha and the next day in Rajya Sabha.
The debate is hoped to bring normalcy to Parliament after a virtual washout of the first week's proceedings.