The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was adjourned on Monday following pandemonium amid arguments between the ruling BJP and opposition members on the issue of killing of four Army personnel, including a Captain, on Sunday evening when Pakistan for the first time fired missiles at the Indian positions along the LoC in the Rajouri district.
The National Conference (NC) and Congress members stormed towards the Speaker’s podium accusing the PDP-BJP government of having failed to protect life and property of those living along the Line of Control (LOC) and International Border (IB).
Some Congress and NC members were heard taunting the BJP members that the 56 inch chest has now got exposed and was unable to protect the young soldiers. The BJP members retorted by asking the opposition not to play politics on the martyred soldiers.
The opposition members also said that the ruling coalition partners lacked unanimity on the issue as the BJP has been stressing on construction of bunkers for the border people, while Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party was advocating improvement in the India-Pakistan relations. State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul RehmanVeeri assured the opposition that their concerns were genuine and the government would come up with a statement.
Unable to restore order, Speaker Kavinder Gupta, then adjourned the House. Meanwhile, a BSF sub-inspector was injured in shelling in the Keri sector by Pakistan troops along the LoC in the Rajouri district, an official said on Monday.
There was “intermittent shelling” through the night by Pakistani troops along the LoC in Rajouri district, Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, ShahidIqbalChaudhary said.
No civilian casualties except injury to two minor children have been reported.
In a Somber atmosphere at Rajouri, wreaths were laid on bodies of the four martyrs before the bodies were flown here in helicopters and then flown to their respective destinations. A pall of gloom descended in the Kathua and Samba towns of Jammu to which the two soldiers Rifleman Subham Singh and Havaldar Roshan Lal respectively belonged.
Mortal remains of Captain KapilKundu were flown to Gurugram in Haryana and those of Rifleman Ramavtar to Gwalior. The incident has triggered widespread condemnation. Devinder Singh Rana, MLA of NC, said civilians are facing the brunt of escalation of tension between India and Pakistan. Rhetoric won’t work. People are dying. We demand a statement on the floor of the house from the Government.
Lt.General (Retired) Ata Hasnain, tweeted “My regrets and deep condolences to the families and to 15 JAK LI, in particular. The unit served with me in difficult circumstances on the LoC in high altitude, 2011”.
JKPCC Chief Spokesperson and former MLC, Ravinder Sharma has expressed deep shock over the causality of four Army Jawans and injuries to four others in Pakistan shelling in Nowshera-Rajouri sector, on Sunday.
Lashing out at Pakistan for continued ceasefire violations, Sharma also criticized Modi government’s failure to deal with Pakistan.