New Delhi, Feb 05 (PTI) The Army today indicated it would take retaliatory action against the killing of four army-men in heavy shelling by Pakistani forces along the LoC in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that its action would speak for itself.
Lt Gen Sarath Chand said the Army has been responding appropriately to Pakistan shelling, asserting that India will continue to give a “befitting reply” to such acts.
“That (retaliation) goes without saying, I think I don’t have to say that. (Our) action will speak for itself,” he said when asked about the killing of a Captain and three other army-men in the Rajouri sector.
The Captain and three soldiers were killed and at least four people injured yesterday in the heavy Pakistani shelling along the LoC.
Chand also accused the Pakistani Army of supporting the infiltration of militants into Jammu and Kashmir.
“We will continue with our process of giving a befitting reply (to such acts),” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here, adding that there were even incidents of mutilation of bodies of jawans last year.
“We have been responding appropriately,” he said.
“There has been cross-border shelling from their (Pakistan’s) side. And one of the shells landed near the officer and his men, leading to the casualties,” he said when asked about yesterday’s shelling.
Captain Kapil Kundu, a resident of village Ransika in Haryana’s Gurgaon district, was killed just six days before his 22nd birthday, Army officials said.
Havildar Roshan Lal, 42, a resident of Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, Riflemen Ramavatar, 27, of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, and Subham Singh, 23, of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district were also killed in the shelling.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said earlier today Indians had full faith in the valour of the Army.
“People of the country have full faith in the valour of the Indian Army,” the minister told reporters outside Parliament when asked about the steps India would take in response to the attack.
Pak summons Indian diplomat over ‘unprovoked firing’
Islamabad, Feb 05 (PTI) Pakistan today summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh here to condemn the alleged “unprovoked firing” by Indian troops across the Line of Control which resulted in the death of two people.
Director General (South Asia and SAARC) Mohammad Faisal summoned Singh and “condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations” by Indian forces, the Foreign Office said.
In a statement, it said that firing on February 04 in Nezapir, Nikial and Karela sectors killed two civilians, including 18-year-old Rafaqat Ali and 25-year-old Tasleem Begum, and injured seven others including two children.
Faisal claimed that “the Indian forces along the LoC and the working boundary are continuously targeting the civilian populated areas with heavy mortars and automatic weapons.”
In 2018, “the Indian forces have carried out more than 190 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the working boundary, resulting in the deaths of 13 civilians,” it said.
“This unprecedented escalation in ceasefire violations by India is continuing from the year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1970 ceasefire violations,” he claimed.
Faisal said the deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas is indeed deplorable and against the human dignity, international human rights and humanitarian laws.
“The repeated ceasefire violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” he asserted.
Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement and investigate the repeated incidents of ceasefire violations, the statement said.
He also urged the Indian side to allow the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions.
India maintains that UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control.
In January, the Foreign Office summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner on January 15, 18, 19, 20 and 21.
