Fury over jawan mutilation rises
Meanwhile, BSF man dies as Pakistan continues ceasefire violations
An Army jawan’s brutal killing by terrorists aided by Pakistan’s forces sparked widespread outrage and calls for retribution, while a BSF jawan died amid escalating and unprovoked ceasefire violations from across the border.
Four jawans each from the BSF and the Army have died in border clashes in Jammu and Kashmir over the past one week. India said on Friday that 15 Pakistani soldiers have been killed during the period.
Sepoy Mandeep Singh, 30, was killed while fighting terrorists who later mutilated his body in Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Friday night, prompting the Army to vow revenge.
The martyr’s inconsolable family at gloomy Aantehri village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra demanded that Pakistan be taught a lesson. His brother, Sandeep Singh, demanded “10 Pakistani heads to avenge” the barbaric killing.
In 2013, Pakistan’s forces had beheaded an Indian soldier and mutilated another's body in J&K, leaving the two countries teetering on the brink of war.
Union minister Jitendra Singh said that “nothing could be more atrocious than this.” “Pakistan’s Army and government are desperate. India’s forces are capable of standing up to this challenge,” he told reporters in Jammu. Mr Singh met BSF troops and praised them for guarding the borders with utmost dedication and bravery.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh also assured the nation that security forces were giving a "befitting reply" to Pakistan’s firing. Shiv Sena said India must give a firm and telling response to Pakistan for the barbaric mutilation of an Indian soldier.
Heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan continued in Kathua and Abdullian areas of the RS Pura sector on Saturday. Indian troops are giving a befitting response, officials said.
Meanwhile, a BSF jawan was killed accidentally while retaliating to ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops in Kupwara, officials said Saturday.
The BSF said constable Nitin Subhash, 28, while returning fire suffered grievous injuries when an explosion inside the chamber of a long-range weapon recoiled. He died during treatment on Friday night.
He was a resident of Maharashtra’s Sangli, and had joined the force in 2008. He is survived by his wife and two sons aged four and two years.
The escalation in border firing comes even as Pakistan expelled on Thursday an Indian high commission official in Islamabad after a staffer of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi was caught spying and told to leave.
Tension and fatal border skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed countries have been rising after terrorists killed 19 Indian soldiers last month, prompting India to launch a global diplomatic offensive, and carry out anti-terror surgical strikes across the LoC.