Publicise decision behind strikes'
Committee, headed by Tharoor, describes IAF's actions as glorious, heroic job'.
New Delhi: A high-level Parliamentary panel on Friday asked the government to aggressively publicise its decision to carry out air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camps inside Pakistani territory and explain the rationale behind it to the international community.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, which is headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, described the air strike as a “glorious and heroic job”.
The suggestion came when foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale briefed the Parliamentary panel about the latest developments that have taken place between India and Pakistan after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack by JeM in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
Mr Gokhale, who was assisted by officials of the ministry of external affairs, informed the members about the air strikes on JeM terror camps in Pakistan as also about the retaliation by the western neighbour, sources said.
He told the panel that the attempt by the Pakistan Air Force to target military installations in India was unsuccessful as it was thwarted by the IAF which itself lost a jet in the fight back.
The members told the foreign secretary that the government should vigorously publicise across the world the reasons behind New Delhi's move to target the terror camps, a member later said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is a member of the committee but was not present in the meeting as he was on a visit to Maharashtra.
Mr Gokhale answered queries about the assessment of damage caused by the air strike. But he explained that the defence ministry was better equipped to answer this.
The foreign secretary also informed the members on how India got the support of the members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue where external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj is a guest of honour.
Pakistan has boycotted the plenary session of OIC meet to protest India's participation there.
Earlier, Mr Gokhale shared in detail the sequence of events of the last few days till the capture of the Indian pilot.