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The Congress party is expected to hold a 'Jai Hind Yatra' in all states across the country on May 9 to express solidarity in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, party sources said on Thursday.
"Congress party to hold 'Jai Hind Yatra' in all Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) units across the country tomorrow to show solidarity," the Congress sources stated. Earlier in the day, an all-party meeting took place to brief political leaders on the ongoing tensions with Pakistan following India's military operation in the early hours of Wednesday, which targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The Congress party extended its full support to the central government during the all-party meeting. However, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence from the meeting, asking if the PM thought he was above the Parliament. Kharge's comments echo similar criticism he made when PM Modi skipped an all-party meeting following the Pahalgam terror attack. He said that the Prime Minister should have directly heard the viewpoints of opposition members. On Thursday, the Centre called the all-party meeting over Operation Sindoor at the Parliament Annexe building. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed political parties on India's action on cross-border terrorism. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister JP Nadda, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi are among several other leaders who participated in the meeting. Meanwhile, after India executed Operation Sindoor, in which nine terror sites deep inside Pakistan were destroyed, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets on the night of May 7. The military targets were engaged in Northern and Western India, including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems. The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations that prove the Pakistani attacks. Indian Air Force S-400 Sudarshan Chakra air defence missile systems were fired last night against targets moving towards India. Multiple domain experts told ANI that the targets were successfully neutralised in the operation. An official Government confirmation is awaited. This morning, the Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised. Earlier, sources said that over 100 terrorists were eliminated with a series of precision strikes launched in the early hours of Wednesday. The operation, aimed at avenging the Pahalgam terror attack, remains underway, making it challenging to provide an exact casualty count of the terrorists at this stage, sources further stated. The strikes, executed by the Indian Armed Forces, targeted nine key terror camps in Pakistan linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and Hizbul Mujahideen. Four of the targets were located inside Pakistan and the remaining five were situated in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The security forces targeted four terrorist camps in Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sarjal, and Mehmoona Joya. The five other locations in PoJK on India's target were Markaz Ahle Hadith Barnala in Bhimber, Markaz Abbas and Maskar Raheel Shahid in Kotli, Shawai Nallah Camp, and Markaz Syedna Bilal, in Muzaffarabad. Meanwhile, Pakistan has increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy calibre artillery in areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Uri, Poonch, Mendhar and Rajouri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. Sixteen innocent lives have been lost, including three women and five children, due to Pakistani firing. India was compelled to respond to bring Mortar and Artillery fire from Pakistan to a halt. Indian Armed Forces reiterate their commitment to non-escalation, provided it is respected by the Pakistani military. (ANI)
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