Five Indian soldiers killed near LoC Tuesday Aug 6,2013

In a deadly instance of firing on Indian Army troops on the Line of Control from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, five Indian soldiers died in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday Aug 6,2013

Defence sources said that an unsuspecting Army patrol walked into an ambush by 15 to 20 men, wearing Pakistan Army uniform, close to Sarla and Chhaja posts, about one kilometre from the cross-LoC Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) of Chakan Da Bagh, in the early hours of Tuesday.

Five soldiers were killed in the intense firing. Four of them were from the 21 Bihar Regiment and one from the Maratha Light Infantry

The bodies arrived in Patna on Wednesday by an Indian Air Force plane where a large number of people including Army personnel, district administration officials and political leaders paid their tributes before the bodies were sent to their native places
Indian Army officers pay their respects over the caskets of five soldiers killed in Poonch at the Patna Airport in Patna  

 


India summoned Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Mansoor Ahmed Khan and lodged a strong protest over the bloodletting

In a detailed statement, Pakistan rejected the allegations made by “some sections of the Indian media” of an attack across the LoC in the Poonch sector in which five Indian soldiers “were claimed to have been killed”.

The Pakistan Foreign Office said military authorities had confirmed that there had been no exchange of fire that could have resulted in such an incident and reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire agreement of 2003 “which is an important Confidence Building Measure and should be respected in letter and spirit”

Defence Minister A.K. Antony maintained that the killing of five jawans of the Bihar regiment on the Line of Control in the Poonch sector on Tuesday was the handiwork of armed terrorists dressed in Pakistani Army uniform

Making a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha, he rejected the Opposition charge that the government bailed out Pakistan by blaming it on terrorists and said his was a “proper response in the present juncture” as the incident had occurred early in the day and he did not want to jump to conclusions

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the Defence Minister could not give Pakisan an “escape route,” and demanded an apology from him.

“They [Pakistan Army] come to kill and our Defence Minister says Pakistan Army is not involved,” Ms. Swaraj said. Quoting from two statements, she said while the Defence Ministry had clearly said the attack was carried out by the Pakistani Army, Mr. Antony described the perpetrators as “terrorists and some men in Pakistani Army uniforms.”

Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) questioned how the Minister could make a categorical statement that terrorists were behind the killings. It was an attempt to “justify ourselves” that it was not an India-Pakistan issue

Sukhendu Seker Roy of the TMC said the Defence Minister had not categorically blamed terrorists for the attack as the headline of his statement read ‘Ambush incident by Pak Army.’ He should explain the ambiguity

Mayawati of the BSP called for a review of India’s foreign policy

V. Maitreyan of the AIADMK said that it was because of the failed handling of foreign affairs, even neighbours had become hostile to India

Last rites of four jawans performed with state honour in Bihar Thursday Aug 8,2013

The last rites of the four army jawans, who were killed by Pakistani troops, were on Thursday performed with full state honour in their respective native villages of Bihar.

While funeral of Vijay Rai took place in his village in Maner block of Patna district, that of Shambhu Saran Singh in Bhojpur district and Prem Nath Singh and Raghunandan Prasad in Saran district