Replying to another supplementary question - if the government has given out of turn promotions to soldiers who repulsed ceasefire violations by Pakistan - Ahir again fumbled saying that this comes in the domain of defence ministry
Junior Minister for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir fumbled several times while replying to a question on surgical strikes in the Rajya Sabha, giving the Opposition members a handle to attack the government for being callous on the matter of internal security.
In reply to Samajwadi Party member Sukhram Singh Yadav's question, whether it is a fact that terrorist activities have increased in J&K after surgical strikes and the number of civilians and security personnel killed in J&K, the ministry's reply gave figures in two sets — two months before and after the surgical strike.
The government said from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2016, 110 terrorist incidents took place in which, 34 security personnel and 7 civilians were killed and during October 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016, 87 incidents took place in which 19 security personnel were killed and there was no civilian casualty.
Not satisfied with the written answer, Yadav accused the government of trying to misguide the House.
Besides, Yadav and other Opposition members countered the reply by accusing the government of hiding the figures of civilians and personnel killed. The answer did not take into account the figures of 2017 which angered the Opposition members.
On being questioned by Yadav for not giving full details, Ahir repeated the figures and added the figures of ceasefire violations in 2016 and 2017 leading to disruptions in the House.
Replying to another supplementary question - if the government has given out of turn promotions to soldiers who repulsed ceasefire violations by Pakistan - Ahir again fumbled saying that this comes in the domain of defence ministry.
This time, Neeraj Shekhar of SP countered, reminding Ahir that the BSF that guards the international border comes under the domain of Ministry of Home Affairs.
The continuous faux pas led to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh taking charge of responding to questions, which he did eloquently in detail. However, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that the issue was being "killed" and "butchered" as never seen before.
Rejecting the charge, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, "I fully contradict the charge made by the Leader of Opposition."
Correcting the figures of civilians killed that Ahir's reply had counted as zero, Rajnath Singh said, there were seven earlier and six afterwards.
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