New Delhi, Mar 7 (IT): Rahul Gandhi called Prime Minister Narendra Modi Pakistan's "poster boy" on Thursday, pointing, among other things, to the presence of intelligence personnel in a Pakistani team put together to investigate the 2016 attack in Pathankot.

India has long accused Pakistan, especially its military and intelligence establishment, of abetting cross-border terrorism. Tensions escalated last week after New Delhi announced airstrikes targeting Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan within two weeks of a suicide bombing in Pulwama.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described Opposition leaders sceptical of the Indian airstrike's results as Pakistan's "poster boys".

"The prime minister has got ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] to investigate Pathankot. The prime minister is going to Mr Nawaz Sharif's wedding [his granddaughter's], and we are the poster boys?" Rahul Gandhi asked.

"He's the poster boy of Pakistan, hugging Mr Nawaz Sharif, calling Mr Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in over here, doing a big drama," he said,

BJP leaders have said hundreds of terrorists were killed in the operation in Pakistan. But opposition leaders have contested this, sometimes pointing to international media reports.

Neither the ministry of external affairs, which announced the strike, nor any of the armed forces have announced an official figure (although the foreign secretary said a large number of terrorists had been eliminated).

"I feel that the next time, when India does something similar, the opposition leaders who raise such questions can be tied to the plane," said VK Singh, a former Army chief who is now the Union Minister of State for External Affairs.

"They can see the target when the bomb is fired. They can be left there to count and then come back."