Will retaliate for these actions: Army chief on soldiers’ mutilation by Pak

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat, on Thursday, said the day’s combing operation in Kashmir was being conducted to ensure the current situation was brought under control.

After the Poonch attack where the bodies of 2 soldiers were found mutilated by the Pakistan army, Gen Rawat said, “We have beefed up our counter-infiltration posture in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“Terrorists are going to attempt infiltration, snows are melting, summer months started so like each year infiltration will commence,” he added.

Speaking on the possible action on the case of soldier mutilation, Gen Rawat said, “We don’t talk about future plans beforehand; we share details after execution.”

India had issued a demarche to Pakistan, expressing outrage at the killing and mutilation of two soldiers, saying “the blood samples of the Indian soldiers that has been collected and the trail of blood on the Roza Nala line clearly shows that the killers returned across the Line of Control” and that “sufficient evidence that this act was committed by personnel of the Pakistan Army who crossed the line of control in the Krishna Ghati sector.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit who denied any involvement of the Pakistan Army. India also demanded that Pakistan take action against its soldiers and commanders responsible for this heinous act.

Meanwhile, there were also reports of a group of Pakistani schoolchildren on a trip to India returning earlier than planned after the MEA informed the NGO organisers that this was not the appropriate time for such a visit.

With the MEA saying that the “trail of blood is of Pakistanis who came from across, in this case personnel of Pakistan Army”, the obvious meaning is that one or more Pakistan Army men were also injured in the cross-border raid they carried out.

The MEA did not elaborate further but it is also reliably learnt that blood from the severed body parts of the slain Indian soldiers was also found in the blood trail leading upto the LoC, indicating that the returning Pakistani troops were taking the body parts back with them.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, “The Pakistan High Commissioner was summoned on Wednesday. The Foreign Secretary conveyed India’s outrage at the killing and barbaric act of mutilation of the bodies of two Indian soldiers on May 1 by the Pakistan Army personnel. It was conveyed that the Government considers it a strong act of provocation and in contravention to all norms of civilised conduct.

“It is significant that the attack was preceded by covering fire by Pakistani posts in the Bhattal sector in the vicinity of village Bhattal. The blood samples of the Indian soldiers that have been collected and the trail of blood on the Roza Nala line clearly shows that the killers returned across the Line of Control. … The trail of blood is of Pakistanis who came from across, in this case personnel of Pakistan Army. The trail of blood at Roza Nala is an indication that the people who came from Pakistan returned to Pakistan.”

The MEA added, “We have shared this information with Pakistan High Commission. The Indian side has sufficient evidence that this act was committed by personnel of the Pakistan Army who crossed the line of control in the Krishna Ghati sector. The Government also demanded that Pakistan take action against its soldiers and commanders responsible for this heinous act. The Foreign Secretary mentioned to the Pakistan HC that as the HC he should convey the sense of outrage on this particular incident to his Government on this barbaric act and his response was, he denied that Pakistan Army was involved in any way in this incident but assured that he will convey the contents of the demarche.”

On the Pakistani schoolchildren’s visit to India, which, according to TV reports has been cut short, the MEA said, “This is not the appropriate time for such exchanges. This is what the ministry conveyed to the NGO (the organisers of the trip) after we learnt that the children had crossed over into India on May 1 which was the day the mutilation and killing of our soldiers took place.”