Balakot air strike: State assemblies pass resolutions hailing IAF

NEW DELHI: Jubilant people came out on streets and marches were held on Tuesday as the news of the IAF's strike on a JeM terror camp in Pakistan was welcomed across the country, with political leaders as well as general public lauding the armed forces for the action which came in the aftermath of the dastardly Pulwama attack.

The sentiment echoed in state assemblies with the legislatures in Haryana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh passing resolutions praising the IAF action.

In Jammu and Kashmir, youths came out on the streets to celebrate in Kathua, Samba, Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur.

A large number of BJP workers and supporters unfurled the tricolour at different places in Jammu city and raised slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.

"I feel this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers. I salute the Indian armed forces," said Kalavathi, whose husband H Guru from Karnataka was among the 40 CRPF jawans who died in the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya district, about 100 km from Bengaluru, burst into jubilation on hearing about the Indian Air Force's early morning attack on the terror camp.

Villagers took out a march and a tricolour was unfurled atop his house as a mark of respect.

The family members of slain CRPF jawan Narayan Lal Gurjar, a resident of Rajasthan, said they feel satisfied after the air strike.

"We were expecting a solid response and reply to Pakistan from India and this has been done now. Our loss is irreparable but we are satisfied with what the government has done," Mahesh Gurjar, a cousin brother of Narayan Lal Gurjar, said.

The Delhi Assembly gave a standing ovation to the Indian Air Force for carrying out the pre-dawn air strike.

While Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Nivas Goel congratulated the IAF for the strikes, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia dedicated the budget to the soldiers who lost their lives in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack.

In the Maharashtra Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis passed a unanimous resolution congratulating the IAF for carrying out the air strike on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

The Haryana Assembly congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the armed forces for the "surgical strike" across the Line of Control.

Assembly's parliamentary affairs minister Ram Bilas Sharma moved a resolution in the assembly congratulating the armed forces for the strike and showing bravery and valour.

In a pinpointed and swift air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack, officials said.

The pre-dawn operation, described as "non-military" and "preemptive", struck a five-star resort style camp on a hilltop forest that provided Indian forces with a "sitting duck target" and caught the terrorists in their sleep, sources said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised Modi and said he is the only one who could "make an impossible task possible".

"The Indian Air Force has killed more than 400 terrorists. Hitting the enemy in its den can be done only by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"If anyone tries to commit any audacious act in the state, not only that person, but even the seeds of the audacious act will be eliminated," Adityanath said while addressing a public meeting in Hardoi.

The Jammu and Kashmir BJP said the air strike was a revenge of the Pulwama terror attack.

"Our IAF struck across the border in the wee hours and taught Pakistan a lesson in the language it understands. The attack left Pakistan bloodied as hundreds of terrorists and their trainers were done to death and their bodies blown to pieces," State BJP president Ravinder Raina told reporters here.

He said this is New India and it will not tolerate terror attacks.

The Jammu and Kashmir Congress said, "We congratulate the IAF for the successful pre-emptive air strike against terrorists camps in PoK. The nation feels proud of our armed forces."

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur in a tweet said: "the strikes have again proved that India is secure under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi".