After Poonch ; TMC delegation Visits Rajouri, meets grieving families.

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL 

SHYAM SOOD 

RAJOURI MAY 23:-After a day-long visit to Poonch to assess the loss of lives and damage to infrastructure due to indiscriminate shelling by the Pakistan Army, a five-member team from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) visited Rajouri on Friday. The delegation toured the affected areas and met with the injured at the Associated Hospital, GMC Rajouri.
The TMC delegation included MPs Derek O’Brien, Sagarika Ghose, and Mohammad Nadim-ul-Haque, West Bengal Minister Manas Bhunia, and former parliamentarian Mamata Thakur. The visit was part of their three-day tour of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
At least 20 people were killed and over 70 injured between May 8 and 10 during heavy shelling across the Line of Control (LoC), following India’s launch of ‘Operation Sindoor’ to target terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
At GMC Rajouri, the delegation met with injured civilians, listened to their accounts, and assured them of ongoing support and solidarity.
“We met Imtiaz Ahmed, who lost his hand; we saw 14-year-old Arfa, who lost her leg; and many others. Twenty-six injured individuals were brought to GMC, along with three deceased. The doctors, under the supervision of Principal AS Bhatia, provided the best available treatment. We salute them,” said Sagarika Ghose and other delegation members.
The team also paid respects at the residence of late Additional Deputy Commissioner Raj Kumar Thappa, who was killed when a Pakistani artillery shell struck his home in Rajouri.
The delegation members expressed their determination to raise the plight of the border residents in Parliament. “We are returning with heavy hearts after witnessing the devastation caused by Pakistani shelling,” they stated.
“We witnessed the pain, suffering, and loss endured by the families in Poonch. This has been a journey of sympathy, empathy, and solidarity,” they added.
Sagarika Ghose emphasized that people living in border areas are among the most vulnerable and often the most neglected. She criticized the government, alleging that local communities in these regions are being overlooked.
“People from all communities have suffered. We stand with them—the people of Bengal stand with them—and so does the entire country,” said Ghose.