Congress leader Pawan Khera on Sunday raised a series of pressing questions surrounding the recent ceasefire announcement between India and Pakistan, as well as comments made by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, which have sparked concerns about India’s defence preparedness.
Khera highlighted the abruptness of the ceasefire declaration, which was announced by US President Donald Trump, and questioned the underlying conditions of the truce. “Questions are arising every day, the biggest of them is Donald Trump’s claims. We also want to know the conditions of the ceasefire, why was it so sudden and announced by the US President?” Khera said.
He further stressed that the statements made by the CDS have added to the confusion, urging the government to step forward and clarify the nation’s defence readiness. “The CDS’ statements again raise many questions. The government needs to come forward... The country needs to know our defence preparedness,” he said.
The ceasefire came after heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s retaliatory military operation, Operation Sindoor. On Friday (local time), President Trump once again took credit for brokering the cessation of hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, asserting that his administration’s trade negotiations helped avert a potential nuclear conflict. Speaking to reporters, Trump expressed pride in having achieved peace through trade diplomacy rather than military action, rekindling debates about the United States’ role in the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, CDS General Anil Chauhan, in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, admitted that the Indian Armed Forces incurred losses during the initial phase of Operation Sindoor but later retaliated decisively against Pakistan’s bases. “So what I can say is, on May 7 and the initial stages, there were losses, but the numbers and that’s not important. What was important is why did these losses occur, and what will we do after that? So we rectified the tactics and then went back on seventh, eighth and 10th, and 10th in large numbers, to hit their bases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their defences with impunity, with scattered opposition strikes,” Gen Chauhan was quoted as saying.
Earlier, on May 11, Air Marshal Bharti, Director General Air Operations, had acknowledged aircraft losses during combat but refrained from providing specific details, stating, “I can’t comment about loss of aircraft as we are in a combat scenario and losses are part of combat.”
Also Read: Oppn fumes as CDS admits India’s 'jet loss' in Op Sindoor
Khera underscored the urgent need for the government to address these issues openly and provide clarity on the country’s defence posture and the circumstances surrounding the ceasefire. He also reiterated Congress’s longstanding demand for a special session of Parliament to discuss critical national security matters. “Congress party has been demanding for a long time that a special session of the Parliament be called. It was called during the war of 1962, but it’s astonishing that now, even after the war has ended, there has been no Parliament session,” Khera said.
Earlier in the day, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh expressed disappointment over the Defence Minister’s failure to share key information with opposition leaders during two recent all-party meetings, especially in light of the CDS’s revelations in Singapore. Ramesh questioned why the government waited for General Chauhan’s public comments before briefing opposition members and convening a special parliamentary session.
“It would have been better that what he has spoken, the Defence Minister should have said in the two all-party meetings he had chaired... Whatever Gen Chauhan has said, this information should have been shared with the opposition leaders, and a special session of the Parliament should have been convened. We had to wait for General Chauhan to make these revelations from Singapore,” Ramesh remarked. The unfolding discourse reflects growing demands for greater transparency and accountability from the government on defence matters amid a sensitive geopolitical backdrop.
Also Read: Jairam Ramesh slams PM's silence on Trump's remarks
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