Jammu, May 24 (IANS) Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday reached J&K’s Poonch district to meet the victims of the cross-border shelling by Pakistani troops during recent hostilities between the two countries.

J&K Congress president, Tariq Hameed Karra, told reporters that Rahul Gandhi will visit shell-hit structures, including a gurdwara, a temple, a madrassa and a Christian missionary school.

“He will also meet the bereaved families and the members of the civil society. He is the first national leader to reach out to the affected population to express his solidarity and share their pain,” Karra said.

Saturday’s is the second visit by the Congress leader to J&K since the dastardly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, including 25 tourists and a local.

He visited Srinagar on April 25 to meet those injured in the Pahalgam terror attack. He had also met the J&K Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and several stakeholders during that visit.

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

On Saturday morning, LoP Rahul Gandhi reached Jammu airport and left for Poonch in a helicopter to visit the areas affected by cross-border shelling and meet the affected families.

The Poonch sector witnessed the worst artillery shelling after India carried out precision-guided strikes during ‘Operation Sindoor’ on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 7 in response to the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack.

Heavy artillery shelling on civilian facilities by Pakistan killed 28 people, 13 in Poonch district and injured more than 70 others between May 7 and May 10 across Jammu and Kashmir.

Thousands of border residents had to abandon their homes in areas near the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) to seek refuge in safer areas identified by the government.

DGMOs of India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on May 12. India, however, made it clear that while trade and the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan will remain in abeyance, the ceasefire understanding will only be respected as long as Pakistan does not allow any terror activity on its soil against India.

–IANS

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