Pathankot ops botched up: Amarinder

Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday said the Pathankot operation in the wake of terror attack on the airbase was completely botched up.

“Even after the passage of seven days, nobody is sure whether all the militants have been flushed out or not. We are as unsure and uncertain about the situation today as we were on the day one of the attack,” he said.

“By bringing in the NSG, instead of  Army which has better training and expertise in counter-insurgency, those at the helm may have certainly glamourised and romanticised the operation but they have also ended up with more loss of precious lives of our soldiers,” the former Punjab chief minister, who has also served 10 years in the army and participated in 1965 war against Pakistan, said.

“Thanks to the total mishandling of the situation we have, by default, served the purpose of the perpetrators by allowing the operation to last unusually for a longer duration,” he observed while adding, “besides it got them prolonged media attention which is the main purpose of those who conceived and executed it”.