Cong highlights ‘background’ to Op Sindoor debate, Trump’s ceasefire claims

New Delhi: Ahead of a discussion in Parliament on Operation Sindoor, the Congress on Sunday recapitulated the events forming the backdrop to the debate, prominent among them US President Donald claiming “26 times” since May 10 that he stopped Operation Sindoor by threatening to cut off trade with India.

The Opposition party said the debate was a long time coming, but “better late than never.”

“The Lok Sabha is scheduled to begin a 16-hour debate on Pahalgam-Op Sindoor tomorrow and the Rajya Sabha is set to do so the day after tomorrow. The INC had been demanding a special two-day session of Parliament immediately after Operation Sindoor was abruptly halted. That demand was ignored. Nevertheless, better late than never,” party leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

The Pahalgam terror attack took place on April 22, but the terrorists directly responsible have still not been brought to justice, the party’s general secretary, in-charge, communications, said.

Reportedly, they were involved in earlier terror attacks in Poonch (December 2023) and Gangagir and Gulmarg (October 2024), Ramesh said.

At the request of the Congress, an all-party meeting was held and chaired, not by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as demanded, but by the Defence minister on April 24, where questions on intelligence lapses were raised, he said.

On May 30, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan made

significant revelations on tactical mistakes in the first two days of Operation Sindoor, he said. These revelations were made in Singapore.

“On June 29, 2025, the Indian Defence Attache in Indonesia, Group Captain Shiv Kumar, said that political decisions hampered military operations during Operation Sindoor and also appeared to have indicated the extent of our aircraft losses,” he said.