Rahul to visit Poonch on May 24 to meet families bereaved during shelling by Pakistan

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Poonch in the Jammu region on Saturday to meet the families of those killed and affected by the recent Pakistani shelling, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.

This will be the second visit of Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, to Jammu and Kashmir after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 25 tourists and one local were killed.

"Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Shri @RahulGandhi will be visiting Poonch tomorrow May 24th to meet the families bereaved during the shelling by Pakistan very recently," Ramesh said in a post on X.

"Earlier he had visited Srinagar on April 25th to meet with those injured during the brutal Pahalgam terror attack and many other stakeholders. He had also met with the LG and the CM then," he said.

During his visit to Jammu and Kashmir last month following the attack, Gandhi had said the idea behind the terror strike was to divide the people of the country and it was imperative that India stood united to defeat terrorism once and for all.

The Poonch sector was witness to heightened artillery shelling about two weeks ago following the rise in tensions with Pakistan after India carried out precise strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) that included the headquarters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (Bahawalpur) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (Muridke) on May 7.

A wave of artillery shelling, and missiles and drone strikes by Pakistan in the Jammu region -- particularly in Poonch -- killed 27 people and injured more than 70 between May 8 and 10 after India launched Operation Sindoor to target terror infrastructure in the neighbouring country and PoK.

Thousands have fled from the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border areas to seek refuge in government-run relief camps. India carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on terror infrastructure early on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam attack.

Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10. The Indian forces launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the military confrontation after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.