Congress demands special Parliament session after military chief's statement on Operation Sindoor

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2 days ago

The Congress on Saturday demanded a special Parliament session to discuss the four-day conflict with Pakistan, accusing the Union government of 'misleading the nation'.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on social media that in the wake of the comments made by Chief Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, there were 'very important questions' that needed to be asked.
'These can only be done if a special Session of the Parliament is immediately convened,' Kharge added.
On Saturday, in comments viewed by some as an acknowledgement of the Indian Air Force having lost aircraft during Operation Sindoor, Chauhan told Bloomberg that what was important was 'not the jet being down, but why they were being down '.
'The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range,' the chief of defence staff was quoted as saying.
However, he said that Pakistan's claims of having shot down six Indian Air Force fighter jets was 'absolutely incorrect'.
The claims made by Islamabad have not been independently verified.
Chauhan also told Reuters that India had suffered losses in the air in the 'initial stages', but that the tactics were rectified and the Air Force 'flew all types of aircraft with all types of ordinances' later during the conflict.
Kharge also said on Saturday that the Congress was demanding a comprehensive review of India's defence preparedness by an independent expert committee, on lines of the survey conducted by the Kargil Review Committee.
The committee was set up by the Union government after the 1999 Kargil War.
The Congress chief also said that United States President Donald Trump had repeatedly claimed that Washington had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan on May 10.
'This is a direct affront to the Simla Agreement,' the Congress leader said.
In the wake of the remarks made by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in Singapore in an interview, there are some very important questions which need to be asked.
These can only be asked if a Special Session of the Parliament is immediately convened.
The Modi Govt has misled the…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 31, 2025
Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.
The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and seven defence personnel were killed.
India and Pakistan on May 10 reached an 'understanding' to halt firing following the four-day conflict. The announcement by Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri came minutes after Trump claimed on social media that New Delhi and Islamabad had agreed to the ceasefire.
The US president had claimed that the ceasefire talks were mediated by Washington.
However, India said that the decision to stop the firing was 'worked out directly between the two countries', a position New Delhi has maintained.