National
On The Ground : Rahul Gandhi Visits Poonch, Worst-hit By Pakistan Shelling; Interacts with Affected Families, Vows To Stand By Them
The Gandhi scion spent nearly two hours with the affected people, including the families who lost their members in the cross-border attacks between May 7 and May 10
Reaching out to the people affected by Pakistani shelling in the worst-hit Poonch, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has said the border district in Jammu and Kashmir embodies the “harmony, unity and patriotism of Hindustan” and those trying to divide the country will never succeed in their design.
The Gandhi scion spent nearly two hours with the affected people, including the families who lost their members in the cross-border attacks between May 7 and May 10. He visited shelling-hit Gurdwara Singh Sabha, temple Geeta Bhawan and Madrassa Zia-ul-Uloom, besides interacting with the students at the Christ High School.
“It is a big tragedy. Many people lost their lives. They (Pakistan army) have hit civilian targets directly. I talked to the people and tried to understand their problems,” Gandhi told reporters.
“I stand strongly with the victim families — I will definitely raise their demands and issues at the national level,” he said.
Poonch faced the brunt of the Pakistani shelling that left 28 people dead and 70 injured.
“Damaged houses, scattered belongings, moist eyes and painful stories of losing loved ones — these patriotic families bear the biggest burden of war with courage and dignity every time. Salute to their courage,” Gandhi said on X.
The Congress leader asserted that the nation would respond resolutely to any attempts to harm its unity.
“Today, I visited a temple, gurdwara and madrassa affected by Pakistani attacks in Poonch. People of every religion live together here and share each other’s pain. This is Poonch – this is Hindustan, where there is harmony, unity and patriotism,” Gandhi said in another Hindi post on X after the visit.
“Those who try to divide and break us will never succeed – we will always remain united and respond strongly. Jai Hind,” Gandhi said in his post.
The Congress leader interacted with students of Christ school who lost two of their mates — 12-year-old twins Zain Ali and Urwa Fatima — to Pakistani shelling.
“Don’t worry, everything will come back to normal,” he consoled the children while encouraging them to “study hard, play hard and make lots of friends”.
Though the school escaped the shelling between May 7 and 10 that left 28 dead and over 70 others injured, its two students were among the victims.
“You’ve seen a bit of danger, you’ve seen a bit of a frightening situation. But don’t worry, everything will come back to normal. And your way of responding to this problem should be that you study really hard, you play really hard and you make a lot of friends in school. Okay? Will you do that? Good,” Gandhi told the students.