New Delhi: The Congress and the ruling National Conference (NC) have called on lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to resign and apologise to the people of Jammu and Kashmir after he sought to take “full responsibility” for the Pahalgam terrorist attack.Sharpening its criticism, the Congress party alleged that Sinha’s remarks were aimed at shielding unspecified officials in the prime minister Narendra Modi-led Union government which is directly in charge of law and order and security in Jammu and Kashmir.“He (Sinha) finally takes responsibility for ‘Pahalgam’ after 82 days of the attack,” Congress leader Pawan Khera asked on X, “In doing so, who is he protecting in Delhi? How many days, weeks, months to also be held accountable and resign or get sacked?”In the past, the opposition has accused Modi and the Union home minister Amit Shah of evading responsibility for the breakdown of law and order in parts of the country, including on the ongoing crisis in Manipur and the lynchings of Muslims among others.The Congress’ national spokesperson Shama Mohamed posted on X: “Since @manojsinha_ has taken full responsibility for the security lapse during the Pahalgam attack – When is he resigning ? In a democracy , the next step after taking the responsibility is Resignation!”‘The next logical step’The ruling NC leader and spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar also called on Sinha to step down. “The next logical step for him should be to step down and apologise to the people of J&K whose lives, livelihood and dignity were put at stake due to his blunders,” Dar told The Wire.The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and general secretary M.Y. Tarigami said that his party has been demanding accountability from the Union government since the attack took place in Pahalgam. He said that the government must come out with details about the lapses that resulted in the killing of 26 civilians.“There is sufficient ground to believe that there was a security lapse. If the LG is accepting this, then responsibility must be fixed and all those responsible should be held accountable. Acceptance means certain action against those who have committed such a grave mistake which resulted in innocents getting killed and escalating the situation to a point of disaster,” he said.India targeted nine terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir under ‘Operation Sindoor’ to avenge the Pahalgam terrorist attack, sparking a wave of retaliatory attacks from across the border which brought the two South Asian nuclear powers on the brink.In an interview to The Times of India, Sinha said that the massacre at Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam on April 22 was orchestrated by Pakistan.This is the first time that Sinha, who was appointed as LG of J&K in 2020 by the Union government, has sought to blame the security agencies, which are under his direct control, for the worst terrorist attack on tourists in Kashmir.“This was a Pakistan-sponsored terror attack. The arrests made by NIA (National Investigation Agency) in the case corroborate local involvement …. I take full responsibility for the incident, which was undoubtedly a security failure,” Sinha told the daily.New Delhi has not so far officially shared any evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the terrorist attack with Islamabad, even though similar incidents in India in the past, like the 26/11 Mumbai attack, have been linked to the terrorist groups based across the border.‘Communal divide’Sinha told the daily that the motive of the attack was to “create a communal divide and trigger a backlash against the people of J&K living in other parts of the country”.In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, several incidents of harassment and manhandling of Kashmiri students, businessmen and others were reported from some parts of the country, prompting some of them to return to their residential places.About the Pahalgam perpetrators, Sinha said: “Army and other forces laid multiple cordons in the wake of the attack but couldn’t lay hands on the attackers. The terrorists have been identified and investigative agencies are on their trail. We hope for an early breakthrough. Operation Sindoor has drawn red lines for Pakistan. India has made it clear that any terror attack will be considered an act of war”.The NIA has arrested two locals of Pahalgam allegedly on charges of harbouring the three Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorists who were involved in the carnage in Pahalgam. The agency has claimed that the duo revealed the identities and affiliations of the perpetrators and also “confirmed” that they were from Pakistan.However, J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah had urged the agency “not to draw sweeping conclusions” as none of the attackers were locals, and the arrested duo provided shelter to the attackers “probably…under duress.”“We must not allow the actions of a few foreign militants to paint our people as collaborators,” Abdullah had said last month.Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senior leader Waheed Parra also sought to rebut Sinha, saying that the Pahalgam terrorist attack was a “cross border issue” and there was no involvement of locals.“Even the CM (chief minister) is on record about this. I think if the blame has to be fixed, it should be done across the border. What happened in Pahalgam was a tragic incident and we shouldn’t indulge in blame games at this stage. There is a larger external angle that needs to be addressed more politically to prevent such incidents in the future,” Parra, who was elected to J&K assembly from Pulwama constituency, told The Wire.