Nirmala Sitharaman meets Rifleman Aurangzeb’s family in Poonch

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with the family members of Rifleman Aurangzeb on Wednesday. (Photo: SNS)


Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid a visit to the native village of slain Rifleman Aurangzeb near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district on Wednesday and offered condolences to his family.

Aurangzeb was abducted and brutally killed by terrorists in South Kashmir while he was on his way home on 14 June to celebrate Eid with his parents.

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Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had visited the family on 18 June and told Aurangzeb’s father that the killers would be brought to justice.

According to reports, terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were behind Aurangzeb’s killing. The terrorists were keeping an eye on him as he was member of an Army team that killed the top commander of HM, Sameer Tiger, who was a “A++” category terrorist. Sameer’s killing had caused a severe setback to the terrorist organisations operating particularly in South Kashmir.

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A video released by the terrorist groups that abducted Aurangzeb showed him bravely acknowledging that he was a soldier of the Indian Army and had participated in anti-terrorism operations in South Kashmir.

Meanwhile, separatist have called for a complete shutdown in Kashmir on Wednesday against the killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari and gunning down of civilians by security forces in the past few days.