Congress Leader Channi Questions Centre on Pulwama Terror Attack Probe, BJP’s Jakhar Hits Back

Chandigarh: Under fire over his "poll stunt" remark, Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday said he was proud of the country's soldiers but targeted the Centre over the 2019 Pulwama terror strike, saying the government could not ascertain who carried out the attack.

The former Punjab chief minister on Sunday called the Poonch terror attack in which an IAF soldier was killed a "stunt" meant to make the BJP win the Lok Sabha elections.

The remark by the Congress candidate from Jalandhar seat triggered a row with Union minister Anurag Thakur asking the Congress leadership to seek an apology from Channi for insulting soldiers with this deplorable statement.

Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar hit back, saying Channi was speaking the language of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who sympathizes with hardliners and anti-India elements.

In a video message on Monday, Channi said, "We are proud of our soldiers who protect our country." Referring to his statement made on Sunday, Channi said ahead of the last parliamentary polls, 40 jawans were killed but the government could not yet ascertain who carried out the terror attack.

"Who was responsible for that attack," he asked.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force troopers died in a terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019.

"Again the elections have come and again our jawans have been attacked," said Channi as he was referring to the terror attack in Poonch.

"I want to ask the government who are those people who get such attacks done. Why don't you bring them forward? Why does intelligence failure take place," he asked.

Channi said Sunil Jakhar, who was earlier with the Congress and now with the BJP, had then even demanded the resignation of the prime minister over the death of 40 soldiers.

"Today again a soldier got martyred and I want to ask Jakhar ji what is your stand now," he said.

"Why are our soldiers getting martyred and why is there intelligence failure of the government," he asked.

Speaking to reporters, BJP leader Jakhar said Channi spent eight-odd months in Canada on the pretext of pursuing his PhD before returning to the state.

"Just as Trudeau prides himself in his support for hardliner and anti-India elements sheltered in Canada, Channi appears to follow suit by calling Sunday's attack on our brave Air Force personnel in Poonch a political stunt," he said.

His disparaging stand against soldiers is tantamount to glorifying terrorists, Jakhar lamented.

"Justin Trudeau may have his political compulsion as PM in Canada, but what is Channi's compulsion to belittle our armed forces," Jakhar asked.

He said, "Channi wants to fortify his abode in Canada which is why he is toeing the line of Trudeau even if it comes at the cost of a national embarrassment that he has caused by his obnoxious statement." "It appears Trudeau is his PhD guide," Jakhar said, ridiculing Channi.

In Jalandhar on Sunday while replying to a question on the attack on the Indian Air Force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch, Channi had said, "'Yeh stuntbaazi ho rahi hai, hamle nahi ho rahe' (These are all stunts, not attacks)." "Whenever elections are near, such stunts are performed to make the BJP win. There is no truth in it," he had said.

"The BJP knows how to play with people's lives and bodies," he had alleged.

One soldier was killed and four were injured as terrorists ambushed an IAF convoy in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, nearly three weeks ahead of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.

The officials suspect the involvement of the same group of terrorists who ambushed troops in adjoining Bufliaz on December 21 last year, leaving four soldiers dead and three injured.

Union minister Thakur strongly condemned Channi's remarks and asked the Congress whether it will insult soldiers to win elections.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Republic staff and is published from a syndicated feed)