JOIN USThe Congress on Tuesday criticised the Centre's policy on Pakistan citing reports in the Lok Sabha about a recent meeting between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Nasser Khan Janjua in Bangkok.
It also lambasted the Modi government for failing to protect military and paramilitary facilities from attacks carried out by terrorist organisations based in Pakistan.
The government dismissed the allegation by the Congress, with Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir saying that while 471 terrorists had been killed between 2010 to 2013, altogether 580 had been eliminated since 2014.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar referred to the September 2016 "surgical strikes" by Indian Army on the terror camps in Pakistan to drive home the point that the government was dealing with the menace of terrorism more effectively than the previous regime.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a brief uproar when Congress' Jyotiraditya Scindia slammed the Centre, citing reports about a secret meeting between Doval and Janjua in the Thailand capital in the last week of December 2017.
Scindia noted that Doval and Janjua had met in Bangkok even after the security officials of Pakistan harassed former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife and mother when they had travelled there to meet him.
He particularly referred to the terror attack on a training facility of the Central Reserve Police Force at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir early on Sunday.
Four CRPF personnel were killed in the attack, which was carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammed. Another CRPF soldier died after suffering a massive cardiac arrest during the attack.
A section of media in India and Pakistan recently reported that the NSA of India and Pakistan had a meeting in Bangkok on December 27.
The government did not confirm or deny the media reports over the meeting between the two NSAs.
Scindia also accused the government of failing to put in place security measures to protect sensitive defence installations even after the military bases in Uri, Udhampur and Pathankot witnessed similar attacks in the past couple of years.
He also wondered why the prime minister was maintaining "total silence" over the issue.
Scindia also criticised BJP MP Nepal Singh for his purported remark that the soldiers should expect death because of the profession they are in.
Responding to the allegation by Scindia, Kumar said that the Congress and other Opposition parties should not politicise the martyrdom of the CRPF personnel.
"We had carried out the surgical strikes. We killed around 200 terrorists in the last three years," said Kumar.