Congress President Sonia Gandhi has expressed her grief on the killing of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, and asked the government to take up this matter at the highest level with Pakistan.
"The Congress President has expressed her deep grief and shock on this incident and she has extended the Congress Party's and the whole country's sympathies to the bereaved families and she has asked the government to take up this matter at the highest level and appropriate action should be followed," said Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko.
Chacko said such dastardly and unprovoked attack on the sovereignty of India will not be and should not be tolerated.
"India as a whole strongly condemns the cowardly act of Pakistan," he added.
Chacko also hit back at the BJP for targetting Defence Minister A K Antony for his statement on the killing of five Indian soldiers on the Line of Control.
"Unfortunately, today in Parliament we see that there is an attempt to politicise this issue. We have seen in the past when the present opposition was the ruling party, the main opposition was leading a government we had Indo-Pakistan discussions and the Lahore declaration, but within months there was the Kargil war. But we the Congress Party did not demonstrate before the Defence Minister's office or residence," said Chacko.
"Then the Agra summit was there, subsequently there was an attack on the Parliament building. But we did not politicise it , nor did we demonstrate before the Prime Minister's office or the Defence Minister's office," he added.
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Meanwhile, the Defence Minister today met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, and briefed him on the incident on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
Antony's meeting came in the backdrop of his statement that the soldiers were killed by terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniform.
While Pakistan has denied the involvement of its troops in the incident, the Defence Minister said in Parliament that the intruders were "terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniform."
Antony's statement attracted a lot of flak, as it has contradicted the Indian Army's account, which said that the perpetrators were 'soldiers from the Pakistan Army'.
After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha issued a breach of privilege notice against the Defence Minister, Antony changed his statement in Parliament on Wednesday after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's approval.
Meanwhile, the Congress has maintained that there is no contradiction in voices between the Indian Army and the Central Government.
"The Defence Minister did not say anything wrong," said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, while criticizing the BJP-led opposition for targeting Antony.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari appealed to parties not to politicise the Line of Control killings, saying that Antony had made his statement on Tuesday with the information that he had at that time.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned prematurely again today after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led opposition continued to mount pressure on the Congress-led UPA Government, and demanded an apology from the Defence Minister for misleading the nation through his statement.
On Tuesday morning, Pakistan had intruded into Indian Territory and ambushed five Indian soldiers who were patrolling an area along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch District.
Of the five Indian soldiers killed, four belong to the 21 Bihar Regiment and one to the Maratha Light Infantry. They were killed in an ambush by Pakistani troops. The Indian Army soldiers killed in the incident have been identified as Prem Nath Singh, Shambhu Saran Ray, Vyay Kumay Ray, Raghunandan Prasad and Pundalik Mane.