In a pattern very similar to those of militants and terrorists harboured by the country itself, Pakistan yet again hit a newer low. Two Indian soldiers were killed and their bodies mutilated by Pakistani forces in a brutal and revolting attack, during an unprompted target attack on frontier posts in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday morning. The Indian diaspora in the UK has been left shocked by this news, some demanding UN intervention to stop Pakistan from killing innocent people- teaching them a lesson. The two soldiers have been identified as Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh, junior commissioned officer with the army's 22 Sikh Regiment, and head constable of the BSF's 200 Battalion, Prem Sagar. Mortal remains of Singh was consigned to flames with full military honours at Punjab’s Tarn Taran district on Tuesday.
Indian army's northern command said that Pakistanis fired mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades, and heavy machine guns at Indian posts in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district along the Line of Control. The shelling made as a cover fire to members of Pakistan's Border Action Team- allegedly a mixed group of Pakistani army regulars and militants. They attacked a 10-man Indian patrol comprising soldiers from 22 Sikh Regiment and the BSF. An army statement said, “Pak army carried out unprovoked rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts... Simultaneously a BAT action was launched on a patrol operating between the two posts. In an unsoldierly act by the Pak army, the bodies of two of our soldiers in the patrol were mutilated.” The senior-most member of the squad, Singh was leading the patrol.
Sources said that Pakistan's 647 Mujahid Battalion, deployed on the forward defence line, was responsible for the firing that began at 8.25 am. At least four rocket-propelled grenades and bursts of automatic weapons were fired towards the Kripan-1 outpost manned by the BSF. Indian soldiers retaliated with automatic weapons at 8.40 pm, with the firing lasting almost an hour. “It was a pre-planned operation of the Pakistani army. They had pushed BAT members into India and set up ambushes to carry out the attack.”
The Pakistani Army has, however, denied the act, saying theirs is a “highly professional force and will never disrespect a soldier. A statement from their inter-services public relations wing said, “Pakistan Army did not commit any ceasefire violation on LoC as alleged by India. Indian blame of mutilating its soldiers' bodies is also false.”
The barbaric act has been condemned by the Indian government and full confidence and faith is reposed in the Indian armed forces, which has vowed to respond appropriately. In a hotline conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen AK Bhatt conveyed India's view on the incident. He expressed concern about the incident in which “Pak troops targeted (an) Indian patrol on Indian side of the LoC” and “mutilated bodies of two soldiers.” Bhatt had, in an Indian Army statement, said such a “dastardly and inhuman act is beyond any norms of civility and merits unequivocal condemnation and response.”
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said, “This is a reprehensible and an inhuman act. Such attacks don't happen even during a war, let alone peace... The sacrifice of these soldiers will not go in vain.” This isn't the first time Pakistani army resorted to the mutilation of Indian soldiers. On October 28, 2016, 30 year old sepoy Mandeep Singh was killed and his body hacked in the Macchil sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district by militants who were provided cover firing by the Pakistani army. In 2013, Lance Naik Hemraj was killed and his body mutilated by a BAT, which also beheaded Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh. In 2008, a soldier of the 2/8 Gorkha Rifles lost his way and was captured by a BAT team in Kel sector. His body was found beheaded after a few days.
An angry Hindu Kashmiri told Asian Voice, “We Kashmiri Hindus have no voice. We have lost our homes to encroachers. And this barbaric act by the Pakistanis just adds salt to our old wounds."
