NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday met locals in Jammu and Kashmir‘s Poonch, the border town which Pakistan targeted with cross-border shelling following India’s successful anti-terror Operation Sindoor in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).Shah announced that the Centre would distribute job letters to the family members of people who were killed in Pakistan’s attack. He also acknowledged that no compensation will make up for the damage to the people’s lives.“We all know that compensation and government jobs cannot compensate for the damage that has been done to your lives. However, it (compensation/appointment letters) is just to express the feelings of the Jammu and Kashmir government, Centre and people of India that we are with you,” Shah said on the second and final day of his Jammu and Kashmir visit, his first to the Union territory after Operation Sindoor.

Further, the home minister reiterated India’s response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s proposal for “peace talks,” asserting that “terror and talks cannot go together.”“Blood and water cannot flow together,” he added, referring to India’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan. The agreement, signed in September 1960, stands suspended for the first time as a consequence of the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists.In retaliation to the Pahalgam attach, Indian armed forces conducted Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, launching precision strikes on terror infrastructure in both Pakistan and PoK. “When Pakistan attacked our civilians, our armed forces gave a befitting reply, and destroyed Pakistani airbases. Because of this, Pakistan came up with ceasefire proposal. Whoever tries to harm us will be given befitting and forceful response,” Shah asserted.