India will give befitting reply to Pak-sponsored terrorism: Assam CM on Doda encounter

Ranchi, Jul 16 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asserted that India would give a befitting reply to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

Sarma, who is the Jharkhand election co-incharge of the BJP, is on a two-day visit to the state to participate in workers’ felicitation programmes and Vijay Sankalp Sabhas.

Reacting to the death of soldiers in an encounter with terrorists in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, he told reporters, “India will give a befitting reply to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Peace has been restored in Jammu and Kashmir and it is our responsibility to maintain it. We will counter every conspiracy of Pakistan.”

Four army personnel, including an officer, died after being injured in a gunfight with heavily armed terrorists in Doda district, officials said on Tuesday.

Sarma is scheduled to visit Torpa and Khunti assembly constituencies on Tuesday and participate in workers’ felicitation programmes and Vijay Sankalp Sabhas.

“The BJP will form a double-engine government again in Jharkhand by uprooting the current dispensation,” he told reporters after arriving at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport.

On Wednesday, he will address party workers as part of a Vijay Sankalp Sabha at BJP headquarters in Ranchi.

The state BJP has been organising assembly-wise worker felicitation programmes and Vijay Sankalp Sabhas from July 6 to celebrate the success of the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. The BJP won eight Lok Sabha seats, while its ally AJSU Party one in the state which has 14 Lok Sabha seats.

On Sunday, Union minister and BJP election in-charge for Jharkhand, Shivraj Singh Chouhan visited Ranchi and participated in party workers’ felicitation ceremony and Vijay Sankalp Sabha in Khijri assembly segment.