Pahalgam Attack: The Congress party is approaching other Opposition parties to write a joint letter seeking a special Parliament session to discuss the Pahalgam attack and the future steps the government is planning to take, sources told The Indian Express on Sunday. In a deadly terrorist attack Tuesday in Pahalgam, a marquee tourist spot in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. The letter is being drafted by the Congress and the party leadership is already in consultation with other Opposition leaders over the matter. It is likely to be sent by today evening or tomorrow, a source said. The demand for a special session assumes significance as all Opposition parties have supported the Union Government’s actions since the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir last week. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had declared that the Opposition would be supporting any action that the Centre takes over the matter. However, in the all-party meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday, several Opposition leaders — Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay and AAP’s Sanjay Singh — had questioned the government, saying that the attack pointed to “lapses” in security and intelligence. Sources have said that the Central government, during the meeting, had admitted to the lapses. “If nothing had gone wrong, why would we be sitting here? There have been lapses somewhere that we have to find out and we want to fix them for the future,” a top leader from the government was quoted as saying in the meeting. In fact, it was in the all-party meeting that the demand for a special Parliament session was first spoken about by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)’s representative and Rajya Sabha MP Haris Beeran. Sources said a session would be an opportunity for the parties to show that the country is united against terrorism and raise relevant questions to seek accountability, while the government can explain its position. This comes days after PM Modi Thursday promised retribution and said: “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers” and would “pursue them to the ends of the earth”. This is a breaking story and will be updated soon.
