Aiming to highlight border villages' plight: TMC delegates
A five-member delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) met Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar, stressing that their motive was to put a spotlight on the people of border villages who suffered due to Pakistan shelling during the recent India-Pakistan military confrontation.
The delegation, comprising TMC leaders Derek O'Brien, Nadimul Haque, Sagarika Ghose, Manas Bhunia and Mamata Thakur, landed in Srinagar on Wednesday evening and later met Omar. 'We have come on a journey of solidarity and empathy. It is the border villages of J&K which have suffered the most due to the shelling from Pakistan. Livelihood has been lost. No one is talking about the suffering of Poonch, Rajouri and villages next to the LoC. We have come to tell these people that we will bring your plight to the notice of people,' Ghose said on Wednesday evening before meeting the CM.
After meeting the CM in Srinagar, Ghose said they had a very fruitful exchange of views with the CM. 'Omar briefed us on the suffering of the border villages in Poonch, Uri and Rajouri due to Pakistan shelling . Fifteen people have died in Poonch and more in Uri and Rajouri. In fact, more people have died in these cross-border shelling from Pakistan than have died in Pahalgam. Every life matters,' she said.
As many as 25 tourists and a local were killed by terrorists on April 22 in a gruesome attack in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam. On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor striking nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Earlier on their way to Srinagar, the delegation among the 227 passengers on board a Delhi-Srinagar Indigo flight, survived mid-air scare on Wednesday when the aircraft they were travelling in was hit by a hailstorm, damaging its nose. TMC member Sagarika Ghosh termed it a near death experience.
Videos showed people screaming and reciting verses from the Quran as the aircraft suffered the turbulence. Passengers narrated a scary experience. 'I was in the plane and am heading back home from Srinagar.It was a near death experience.The nose of the plane is damaged...There was panic, and people were screaming. Everyone was scared,' said Owais Maqbool on X.
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