BJP leaking false numbers on Pakistan air strike: TMC

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress Saturday accused BJP ministers of "leaking exaggerated numbers" to the media about the casualties in the air strike in Pakistan. The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC also claimed that no statistics given by the central government can be taken "seriously".

Security forces have not officially attributed any number to those eliminated in the strike, Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Derek O'Brien posted on Twitter.

"IAF has been very consistent: "No number".So why did a BJP mantri or two leak exaggerated numbers? And Delhi media fell for the numbers. Can one take any statistics this govt gives out seriously? Journos? Or slaves to propaganda aka sources?," he tweeted along with screenshots of TV news reports quoting sources as saying 200-300 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were eliminated in the strike.

Later in a statement, O'Brien accused BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of playing "divisive politics" over the issue. "Look who has the gall to talk about 'vote bank politics'! Amit Shah and the BJP are the nastiest proponents of divisive and hatred politics.

"We will not listen to his lectures on patriotism. Our armed forces belong to India, not to Modi-Shah-BJP," he said. The comments from the TMC leader came a day after party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee demanded proof from the government of the impact of the strike on a JeM camp across the border.

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan agreed on Saturday to operationalise Samjhauta Express services at their ends. The train will leave for Pakistan from Delhi on Sunday, a senior railway official said.

The announcement came a day after Pakistan released Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. While Pakistan had cancelled its services right after an air strike by the Indian Air Force, India cancelled the operations of the Samjhauta Express on February 28.

The Railway Board in an order had said all operations of the Attari Special Express, Delhi-Attari-Delhi, which together with the Pakistani line from Wagah-Lahore is known as the Samjhauta or Friendship Express, will remain cancelled. It had also said that the cancellation was due to "purely operational reasons".

Sources said after the missive about Pakistan's resumption of services was conveyed to the board, it was decided that services on the Indian end will resume too. The train will start running from the Indian side on Sunday, while on the Pakistan side it will leave Lahore on Monday for its return journey, the official said.