Jammu, May 24 (IANS) Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, hoped on Saturday that the situation would soon return to normal in J&K’s Poonch border district while he advised students to study harder to prove their resolve to face the adversity.

LoP Rahul Gandhi visited Poonch and met families affected by cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops earlier this month.

During an emotional interaction, LoP Rahul Gandhi offered his condolences and reassured the families that they would receive support.

LoP Rahul Gandhi also visited a local school, where he spoke to students, encouraging them to remain strong and focus on their futures.

Interacting with students of the Christian Missionary School, LoP Rahul Gandhi said: “You’ve seen a little bit of danger, but don’t worry, everything will be back to normal. Your way of responding to this problem should be that you study hard, you play really hard, and you make a lot of friends in school. Will you do that?”

LoP Rahul Gandhi also expressed regret that the two students had died in the shelling.

He told reporters that the people of Poonch have asked me to highlight their problem at the national level, adding that the losses in Poonch are huge.

This is LoP Rahul Gandhi’s second visit to J&K since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives of 25 tourists and a local.

Rahul arrived in the area on Saturday morning and went on a door-to-door visit to homes damaged during the shelling between May 8 and 10.

He interacted with residents and inspected the extent of the damage. He arrived in Jammu earlier that day and travelled to Poonch to show solidarity with the grieving families.

In Poonch, he met with the parents of 12-year-old twin siblings, Zoya and Zain, who lost their lives in the shelling.

LoP Rahul Gandhi stated that the visit aimed to “stand by the victims of Pakistani aggression” and to highlight the human cost of ongoing hostilities.

This is the second visit by the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha to the Union Territory since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, most of them tourists.

LoP Rahul Gandhi visited Srinagar on April 25 to meet those injured in the terror attack. He had also met Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, chief minister Omar Abdullah and several stakeholders.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra said LoP Rahul Gandhi visited shell-hit structures, including a gurdwara, a temple, a madrassa and the Christian Missionary School.

“He is the first national leader to reach out to the affected population to express his solidarity and share their pain,” he said.

–IANS

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