"Why do you assume terrorists came from Pakistan?" asks P Chidambaram on Op Sindoor; BJP lashes back

Ahead of the Parliament debate on Operation Sindoor, Congress leader and former Union Minister minister P Chidambaram has raked up controversy by alleging that the ruling BJP-led Central government is reluctant to share key details on the India's military response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalagam. In a July 27 interview with the Quint news outlet, Chidambaram raised questions on whether the Government had taken any follow-up steps to prevent another Pahalgam. "Where are the terrorist attackers? Why have you not apprehended them? Why have you not even identified them? Suddenly a news item emerges that we have arrested two or three people who gave them shelter. Now what happened to that?" Chidambaram asked. Futher, the Congress leader who served as the Home Minister in the UPA tenure said, the Government was "unwilling to disclose what the NIA has done all these weeks. Have they identified the terrorists, where they came from? I mean, for all we know, they could be homegrown terrorists. Why do you assume that they came from Pakistan? There's no evidence of that. They are also hiding the losses." BJP has hit back at the Congress leader's remarks with party spokesperson Amit Malviya alleging that the Congress "always bend over backwards to protect the enemy." "Why is it that every time our forces confront Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Congress leaders sound more like Islamabad's defence lawyers than India's opposition? When it comes to national security, there should be no ambiguity. But with the Congress, there never is -- they always bend over backwards to protect the enemy," Malviya said in a post on X. Chidambaram also criticised the Prime Minister for not making a comprehensive statement on Operation Sindoor. "We know it was an intelligence failure. But so was the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 an intelligence failure. When I took over as home minister I visited Mumbai and I called the entire press. The first sentence I said was I apologize for the intelligence failure. It was an intelligence failure, of seven or eight Pakistan-based terrorists coming by boat to Mumbai, the commercial capital of India and the financial capital of India and walking up to hotel Taj was a clear intelligence failure," Chidambaram said. Echoing similar remarks on Monday, Congress MP Imran Masood also demanded answers from the Centre on the whereabouts of the Pahalgam terrorists, saying that the people have a "right to know" where the terrorists went afterwards and questioning the security at the border. "If the terrorists came from Pakistan, then how are our borders secured? They came, committed the act and left. We will ask if they were airlifted and airdropped, where they came from, and where they went. We have the right to know," Masood told. Also, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said that BJP is employing diversionary tactics to divert from the "real issue." "The real issues is of the Pahalgam terror attack and the failure of the government to continue with Operation Sindoor, the surrender of Mr Modi to Trump's Social Truth. We are very clear that this is a diversionary tactic by the BJP, and we will not fall into their trap. Congress has been clearly saying that Pakistan must stop the export of terrorism to India. Congress stands with the Forces in the fight against terrorist groups." "The question is straight, we want to know where are those terrorists who killed the husbands of our 26 sisters. The government has failed till now, whether intentionally or accidentally. We still do not know who they were, where they came from. The dangerous game being played in Kashmir is not beneficial for the nation. We want to know who those terrorists are, where they came from, and why they have not been caught till now." Meanwhile, Chidambaram in his interview to the Quint also said, "I said it in a column that in a war, losses will occur on both sides. I understand that India would have suffered losses." "Therefore, why they are reluctant to admit the losses, but losses are inevitable and natural in a war. So, admit the losses. I think they are they think they can put a large shroud on operation Sindoor. It won't work," the Congress leader said. Twenty-six civilians were killed in the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, after which India retaliated through precision strikes under Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Even since the monsoon session began on July 21, the Parliament has witnessed constant adjourments amid uproar over the demands of the opposition to push for a debate on issues of public importance, including the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack and the ongoing SIR exercise being carried out by the Election Commission in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.