Amid massive search operations in the Poonch’s forest area of Jammu and Kashmir after the Thursday terror attack, political parties slammed the Centre. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut was among the first leaders to speak about the attack. “Yesterday’s terrorist attack in Poonch is a repeat of the Pulwama attack. The govt is sleeping. Do you (BJP) again want to do politics on the sacrifice by our jawans? Do you want to seek votes again on the Pulwama issue in 2024? If we ask questions about the Poonch incident, then they will throw us out of Delhi or the country…,” Raut was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah also reacted on the terror attack. Abdullah said that ‘terrorism has not ended in Kashmir. Taking s sharp swipe at the Centre, Abdullah said that the (Modi) govt keeps talking about increasing tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. But in case any ‘tourist gets shot, no one will come here.’

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) December 22, 2023

CPM secretary-general Sitaram Yechury took to X (formerly Twitter) to pay his tributes to the soldiers who died in the Rajouri encounter. “Salute the courage and supreme sacrifice…,” Yechury said on his official X handle.

Meanwhile, according to a PTI report from Jammu, General officer Commanding (GoC), XVI corps, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain visited Ground Zero on Friday. The PTI report also said that a team of National Investigation Agency also visited the site. The PTI report says that five army personnel were killed in the Rajouri encounter. Two more have suffered injuries, the report added.