Sidhu condemns Pulwama attack, but asks if entire nation can be blamed for handful of people

Chandigarh: Strongly condemning the “cowardly” attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama by a Pakistan-based terror group in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu Friday asked whether an entire nation can be blamed for a handful of people.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The cricketer-turned-politician, who was among the invitees for the swearing in ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan prime minister last year, however posed, “For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual?” 

Talking to reporters here after the Punjab Assembly was adjourned for the day in solidarity with the CRPF soldiers killed in the terror attack, Sidhu said, “It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished.” 

The Punjab Assembly Friday strongly condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed and passed a resolution for adjournment of the proceedings of the House for the day.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.