Chandigarh, Apr 23 (PTI) The Punjab units of BJP and Congress held separate protests in Chandigarh on Wednesday condemning the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

The BJP protest was led by former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who is also the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge. The Congress staged a protest under state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.

Rupani, who strongly condemned the cowardly act, said the culprits will not be spared.

He said the incident was a conspiracy to disturb peace in the Valley since the Narendra Modi government took several decisive steps in the last few years for the development and stability of Kashmir, leading to a record number of tourist footfalls there, local people gaining employment and life turning normal.

This terrorist attack is not only the murder of innocent people but also a direct attack on the peace, trade and tourism in Kashmir, he said.

During the protest, BJP leaders and workers took out a march from the party office at Sector-37 in Chandigarh. They raised anti-Pakistan slogans and burnt an effigy near the Sector 25 roundabout.

A separate protest was staged by the Punjab Congress.

Party workers raised slogans like ‘Desh Ki Ekta Zindabad’ and against Pakistan.

Denouncing the terror strike, state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said the Central government should give a befitting reply to Pakistan at whose behest innocent Indian citizens have been killed.

He said that contrary to the claims made by BJP leaders, the attack shows that normalcy has not yet returned to Jammu and Kashmir.

At least 26 persons, mostly tourists, were slain at a meadow in Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley on Tuesday in one of the worst terror strikes on civilians in Kashmir since the Pulwama attack in 2019. PTI SUN RUK RUK