Op Sindoor debate: Oppn seeks answers from govt on 'downed' Indian jets, why PoK not taken back

New Delhi | The Opposition on Monday targeted the government in Lok Sabha on "security lapses" that led to the Pahalgam attack, saying Home Minister Amit Shah must take responsibility for it, and demanded answers on how many Indian jets were downed during Operation Sindoor and why PoK was not taken back.

Participating in a special discussion on Operation Sindoor, the Congress MPs questioned the government on the sudden halting of Operation Sindoor and asked "before whom did Prime Minister Narendra Modi surrender".

Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi asked when will India take back its Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and also slammed the government over US President Donald Trump claiming "26 times" that he used trade to bring about a "ceasefire" between India and Pakistan.

"If not today, then when will we take Pakistan-occupied Kashmir back?" Gogoi said.

The Congress leader said Prime Minister Modi has been saying since the Uri and Pulwama attacks that "humne ghar mein ghus ke mara", "we destroyed terror infrastructure" and is making the same remarks even now after the "most horrendous" terror attack.

He said the Opposition wants to know from PM Modi that if Pakistan was ready to kneel before India, "why did you stop and before whom did you surrender?"

Noting that US President Donald Trump has claimed 26 times that he used the threat of trade to bring about a "ceasefire" between India and Pakistan, he said the American leader has also claimed five to six jets have been downed.

"That is why we want to know from the defence minister, the country has the courage to listen to the truth, he must answer as to how many fighter jets were downed," Gogoi asked.

"This information, this truth, is not just for Indian citizens; it is important for soldiers, they are also being lied to," he added.

Gogoi said there are just "35 Rafale fighter jets in the country" and if some have been downed, "it is a big loss".

He also asked why Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not name China during his address in the Lok Sabha and said he must disclose how much support that country was providing to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.

Singh had initiated the discussion in the Lok Sabha on "India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam".

The government asserted in the Lower House it can go to any extent to uproot terrorism and warned that Operation Sindoor launched terror sites in Pakistan was on pause as the armed forces had achieved its desired objectives, but could resume in case of any misadventure by Islamabad. It also rejected Trump's claims on "ceasefire".

Referring to Singh's speech, Gogoi said he gave a lot of information, but did not say, as the defence minister, how the terrorists came to Pahalgam.

"The country wants to know ... 100 days have passed, but this government has not brought the terrorists to justice," he said.

Taking on the home minister, he said he made claims that the backbone of terrorism has been broken, but the Uri and Pahalgam incidents still happened.

"Who will take responsibility, the (Jammu and Kashmir) Lieutenant Governor? It is the home minister who must take responsibility. You cannot hide behind the LG. This government is ... so weak that it blamed even tour operators for the Pahalgam attack," the Congress leader said.

Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda demanded that India should not play cricket with Pakistan at a time when Operation Sindoor is going on.

Hooda also batted for modernisation of Indian defence forces and an increase in the defence budget.

He questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Modi on claims made by US President Trump of brokering peace between India and Pakistan.

The government has to decide its relationship with the US, he said, adding that India should ask Trump to stop speaking on India-Pakistan issues.

The Rohtak MP added that the government should disclose the "terms of the ceasefire" with Pakistan.

Taking on the government for halting Operation Sindoor at a time when India's security forces had an edge, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee questioned the announcement of "ceasefire" and likened it to a player "declaring the innings" on the brink of scoring a century.

"... Have you ever heard that a player batting at 90 and heading towards a century, declare the innings. Only Modiji can do this, no one else... It was a matter of completing 100 runs, ended up being at 90," he said.

He also asked why PM Modi did not "counter" Trump "even once" on his claims made in a social media post on the role of the US in reaching the ceasefire.

In a dig at the prime minister, the TMC MP said that in front of the US President, Modi's stature "gets reduced", and his "chest shrinks from 56 to 36 inches".

NCP (SP) member Supriya Sule questioned the government's handling of Operation Sindoor, saying it cannot be called a success until the terrorists responsible for Pahalgam are caught.

Urging External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to reflect on the global calls for de-escalation, she referred to BJP MP Tejasvi Surya's own question about the objective of the war and highlighted the anguish of victims’ families, with one repeatedly asking her, “When will my father get justice?”

Sule said Kashmir, once seen as paradise, had become a nightmare for many and mere compensation without jobs or accountability was not enough.

Samajwadi Party MP Ramashankar Rajbhar said the country wanted "Operation Tandoor" after the Pahalgam terror attack to roast the terrorist responsible for it, and not Operation Sindoor.

He accused the government of failing to act decisively and questioned the "delay" in the operation, saying that a mission that should have been initiated in three days was carried out after 17 days.

"The country was so angry (over the Pahalgam attack) that by the third day, people wanted not Operation Sindoor, but Operation Tandoor, that is to throw the terrorists into that tandoor. But instead, the operation happened 17 days later."

"Were those who carried out the Pahalgam attack among the 100 terrorists (killed during the operation)? That's the real question," he asked while lauding the country for displaying unity and foiling the enemy's plan of inciting riots.

On Trump's claims of bringing a ceasefire, he said, "The real Vishwaguru was sitting in the White House," he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant said India should refrain from playing cricket with Pakistan in view of the ongoing tension with the neighbouring country.

Sawant also wondered why India stopped the war with Pakistan without imposing any conditions when the neighbouring country "was on its knees begging for a ceasefire".

"If India was in the vantage position, then what stopped the country from reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," he said, adding this was an opportune time to teach Pakistan a lesson like India Gandhi had done during the 1971 war.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar speaks during a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, at the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Monday, July 28, 2025. At no stage in conversation with US was there any linkage of trade with Op Sindoor: Jaishankar

New Delhi | External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday asserted that at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage of trade with halting of Operation Sindoor and said there was no call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump between April 22 and June 17.

Jaishankar referred to the two phone calls between Trump and Modi, with the first one being on April 22, when the US President conveyed sympathies for the Pahalgam terror attack, and the second one on June 17, when he called the PM to explain that he could not meet him in Canada.

Intervening in the special discussion in the Lok Sabha on 'India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam', the senior BJP leader also said the result of India's diplomacy post-Pahalgam attack was that only three out of 190 nations which are part of the UN opposed Operation Sindoor. There was overwhelming support that the country which has been attacked has the right to defend itself, he said.

Jaishankar said India's military action against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack marked a "new normal" in combating cross-border terrorism with a five-point approach that included firm response to terrorist acts, not yielding to nuclear blackmail and blood and water cannot flow together.

Though a combative Jaishankar took on the previous Congress governments on a range of issues including on 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, policy on China as well as Pakistan, the major highlight of his nearly 40-minute address was his articulation of the new normal in combating cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

"The challenge of cross-border terrorism continues but Operation Sindoor marks a new phase. There is now a new normal. The new normal has five points," Jaishankar said.

Explaining the new normal, he added, "One -- terrorists will not be treated as proxies, two -- cross-border terrorism will get an appropriate response, three -- terror and talks are not possible together and there will only be talks on terror, four -- not yielding to nuclear blackmail, and finally -- terror and good neighbourliness cannot co-exist, blood and water cannot flow together. This is our position."

The external affairs minister also called for a united approach within India in dealing with terrorism, saying it was best reflected when parliamentary delegations visited various countries to apprise them of Operation Sindoor and India's policy on terrorism.

Jaishankar pointed out that The Resistance Front (TRF) group had been designated as a global terror organisation by the US due to Indian diplomacy.

Narrating the events during the conflict between India and Pakistan, he said that on May 9, US Vice President J D Vance called the PM, warning of Pakistan's massive attack in the next few hours, he said.

"PM Modi made it very clear that if that happens, it would be met with an appropriate response from our side. That massive attack took place, and it was foiled by our armed forces.

"On May 10, we received phone calls sharing the impression of other countries that Pakistan was ready to cease the fighting. Our position was that if Pakistan was ready, we needed to get this as a request from the Pakistani side through the DGMO channel. That is exactly how that request came," Jaishankar said.

"I want to make two things very clear. One, at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage with trade and what was going on. Secondly, there was no call between the prime minister and President Trump from April 22 -- when President Trump called up to convey his sympathy -- till June 17, when he called up the PM who was in Canada to explain why he could not meet," he said.

Talking about the post-Pahalgam actions of the government, Jaishankar said that the Cabinet Committee on Security had decided that the Indus Waters Treaty would be held in abeyance until Pakistan abjures its support for terrorism, along with a host of other steps.

"It was very clear that after these steps, India's response to the Pahalgam attack will not stop there. Our responsibility from a foreign policy approach was to shape the global understanding of the Pahalgam attack," he said.

Jaishankar said that Indian diplomacy then tried to bring out Pakistan's long-standing support to terrorism and how the Pahalgam attack was targeted at Jammu and Kashmir's economy and sow communal discord.

"Messages were two -- zero tolerance for terrorism and the right to defend our people against terrorists. All diplomatic briefings were aimed at these two objectives," he said.

Jaishankar's remarks came after Congress' Deputy Leader in the House Gaurav Gogoi slammed the government over US President Donald Trump's claim made "26 times", that he used trade to bring about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

The Congress has been repeatedly attacking the government over Trump's remarks. Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim on several occasions that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan.

However, India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.