Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday, May 4, said the Indian Army would give a fitting response to Pakistan for the mutilation of the bodies of Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh and Head Constable Prem Sagar. To those who are baying for blood, he urged them to "have faith" in the army, and the apt response would come in time.
The two soldiers were killed when Pakistan violated ceasefire in the Krishna Ghati area of Jammu and Kashmir, and their bodies were then mutilated by the Pakistani Army. There have since then been multiple calls — from the kin of the martyrs as well as the common man — to the Army to avenge the deaths and the mutilation.
It is in light of this that Jaitley — who had earlier called the mutilation a "reprehensible and inhumane act" — told a national news agency: "Have faith in your army." He was replying to a question on any possible action India can take against Pakistan for its actions.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, has already made it clear that Pakistan had a role to play in the mutilation of the soldiers. It had said: "It was significant that the attack was preceded by covering fire from Pakistani posts in Battal sector... Blood samples of the Indian soldiers that have been collected and the trail of blood on Roza Nala clearly show that the killers returned across the Line of Control."
Pakistan, however, has denied its involvement. When this was pointed out, Jaitley told the news agency: "The denial itself carries no credibility because the entire gamut of circumstances clearly indicates that this barbaric act of first killing two of our soldiers and then mutilating their bodies has been carried out with the active participation of the [Pakistani] Army."
He added: "The fact that cover firing was provided to those who carried out this act..... they are helped to escape, in such a heavily guarded border where posts are within few metres of each other, this cannot happen without the protection or the participation or the actual indulgence of the [Pakistani] Army."
