Indian govt informing Pak about Operation Sindoor in advance helped Masood Azhar escape: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress continued its line of questioning about External Affairs minister S Jaishankar allegedly making an open admission that the government of India had informed Pakistan at the start of Operation Sindoor that it was going to strike the terrorist camps there.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC office here on Monday, party spokesperson and chairman of the Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera said, this clearly proves that this sensitive information that was shared with Pakistan helped the dreaded terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar escape ahead of the strikes.

How much did Pakistan know about India’s strike, asks Rahul

Earlier, the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi questioned Jaishankar’s silence remarking, “EAM Jaishankar’s silence isn’t telling-it’s damning.”

“So, I’ll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew,” he wrote on X, adding, “This wasn’t a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth.”

Lashing out at Jaishankar for this betrayal, Khera remarked, “This is not diplomacy, but espionage and betrayal,” to allegedly forewarn Pakistan about the strikes on terror camps.

He sought the answers not only from Jaishankar, but also from the prime minister Narendra Modi, over this betrayal with the country. “Sindoor ka sauda hota raha, aur PM chup rahe” (PM kept quiet while ‘Sindoor’ was being traded off), he remarked, while adding, “sindoor se sauda manzoor nahi hai, desh ke prati gaddari manzoor nahi hai” (we will not tolerate a deal made at the cost of Sindoor, we will not tolerate betrayal of our nation).

‘The problem is not at the border, it is in Delhi’

Pawan Khera also took a jibe at PM Modi over his remark made during his tenure as the Gujarat CM that, “Samasya border pe nahi hai, Dilli mein hai” (problem is not at the borders, but in Delhi). He said, that was exactly the situation now that the problem was not at the borders, but in Delhi, to the extent that Pakistan was forewarned about the strikes from Delhi.

Khera pointed out, by forewarning Pakistan about the strikes, the BJP government protected Masood and helped him escape just as they had escorted him to Kandahar during the hijack of IC 814 flight in the year 1999.

Allegations of espionage

Stating that the BJP, RSS and their supporters have a long history of espionage, he referred to some instances of the last few years where active BJP supporters had been arrested for spying for Pakistan.

Khera also revealed how the then prime minister, Morarji Desai, who belonged to the Janata Party, had exposed the RAW agents in Pakistan to its military ruler Gen Zia-ul-Haq and all of them were eliminated. He said, Pakistan rewarded Desai with its highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan.