BJP, Opposition hail ceasefire; Opposition questions US role, calls for all-party meet

NDA ally JD(U) welcomed the ceasefire with spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad saying India had taught Pakistan a lesson that it would never be able to forget.

The Congress and other Opposition parties had pledged unequivocal support to the Government for any action it takes against perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack and their handlers. The Opposition parties, however, flagged the role played by the US, especially the reference by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that both sides have agreed to “start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.”

“Like in 2019, after the Pulwama-Balakot dynamic, it was a US intervention that had calmed things down… Again this time it is explicit US intervention which is trying to calm the region down,” senior Congress leader and former union minister Manish Tewari said.

“What is most interesting in the statement issued by Secretary of State (Marco) Rubio is that the ceasefire is hyphenated with the assertion that both the countries will talk on a broad set of issues at a neutral site. This clearly constitutes third party mediation and it demonstrates that the bilateralism, which was intrinsic to the Simla agreement of 1972, now seems to be a template of the past,” Tewari said.

Senior Congress leader and CWC member Abhishek Singhvi said, “Either punish him fully or let him be. Wonder what gains were made by a three day skirmish and, more importantly, hope we have not frittered away those gains by any premature ceasefire. It is difficult not to believe that lessons learnt by Pakistan in 3 days, when we were on the cusp of driving home the message, have been frittered away by a premature ceasefire and that Pakistan may well repeat future Pahalgams.”

Congress communication department head Jairam Ramesh said that “there is now a need, more than ever before, for the PM to chair an all-party meeting”. “A special session of Parliament to discuss the events of the last eighteen days, beginning with the brutal Pahalgam terror attacks and the way forward, and to demonstrate a collective resolve” should be held,” he said.

“I am very glad. India never wanted a long-term war. What India wanted was indeed to teach the terrorists a lesson. I believe that lesson has been taught. The other details are not yet clear,” Lok Sabha MP and CWC member Shashi Tharoor said.

Some Congress leaders posted tweets remembering Indira Gandhi in the context of the 1971 war and the creation of Bangladesh. “Indiraji, today the entire country is remembering you,” former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot posted on X, along with a photo of the former prime minister with soldiers. In this context, Ramesh tweeted a letter that Indira Gandhi had written to President Nixon on December 12, 1971. “Four days later Pakistan surrendered. She ensured that there was no ‘neutral site’ which has now been agreed to,” he said.

The RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav asked the Prime Minister to convene a special session of Parliament and “give date-wise and point-wise information from the terrorist incident of Pahalgam to the ceasefire declaration”. Echoing the demand, his party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K Jha said it was “a little unsettling to hear that the ceasefire decision was taken by Donald Trump”.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said there can be no permanent peace as long as Pakistan uses its territory for terrorism against India. “Ceasefire or no ceasefire we must pursue the terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam attack. I have always stood by the Government and the armed forces against external aggression. This will continue,” he said.

Owaisi, however, also raised questions, saying that Prime Minister Modi should have announced the ceasefire “rather than the President of a foreign country”. “I hope the Kashmir issue will not be internationalised, as it is our internal matter. Why are we agreeing to talk on neutral territory… Does the US guarantee that Pakistan will not use its territory for terrorism? Have we achieved our aim of deterring Pakistan from carrying out future terror attacks?” he said.

The CPI(M) said Pakistan has to ensure an end to terrorist activity from within its borders. “We earnestly hope that the two countries build on this and ensure that the people do not have to suffer from the evil of terrorism,” the CPM politburo said.