Pak refuses to take back bodies of its men killed in Army action

Pakistan on Tuesday refused to accept the bodies of two armed intruders who were killed during a firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Sunderbani sector of Jammu and Kashmir on October 21.

According to sources, talks at the Brigadier level officers of the Military Operations departments of India and Pakistan took place on Tuesday morning during which Pakistan was told to take away the bodies of the two infiltrators who were shot down by the Indian soldiers. However, sources said Pakistan denied that the two men who were gunned down while infiltrating were its citizens.

On the Sunday five to six Pakistani terrorists attempted to cross the LoC and fired on an Indian Army patrol party. It was a six men NCO-led patrol of 8 Jammu and Kashmir Regiment. They were going from one post to the other when Border Action Team (BAT) of Pakistan attacked and killed three Indian soldiers in the first burst. But the remaining three soldiers chased away the BAT team and killed two of them.

 

These armed intruders were wearing combat uniforms. Keeping with the practice, Pakistan Army was informed through established communication channels to take away the bodies of the hostile Pakistani nationals. A stern warning was also conveyed to the Pakistani forces to restrain terrorists operating from its soil.

However, during the talks, Pakistan followed its old line of not accepting its own people. The Indian side has now decided to respectfully "dispose off" the dead bodies.

Pakistan has in the past too has refused to accept the dead bodies of the terrorists and infiltrators. During the Kargil war too when the regular Pakistan Army personnel were killed, Islamabad had refused to accept their dead bodies even though the Indian Army had offered them to take back the remains of their soldiers.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned a senior official from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and handed him a demarche lodging strong protest at the fatal casualties of Indian soldiers.

"It was informed that two Pakistani armed intruders have been killed by the Indian security forces during the ensuing firefight and the Government of Pakistan take custody of the dead bodies of its nationals. Ministry condemned in the strongest terms such provocative action by Pakistan, which reveals their complicity in aiding and abetting terrorism and exposes the hollowness of Pakistan's deceitful claims to promote constructive engagement and desire for peace," MEA said in a statement.

"Our grave concern at the continuing incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations by the Pakistan forces along the LoC and the International Border (IB) was also shared. Despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the ceasefire understanding of 2003 for maintaining peace and tranquility, Pakistan forces have carried out 1591 incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and IB in 2018 so far. Pakistan was called on to abide by its bilateral commitment not to allow any territory under its control to be used to support terrorism against India in any manner," MEA said.