The Army on Monday clearly indicated it would take retaliatory action against the killing of four Army men in heavy shelling by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, saying that its action would speak for itself.
Vice-Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Chand said the Army has been responding appropriately to Pakistan shelling, asserting that India will continue to give a “befitting reply” to such acts.
“That [retaliation] goes without saying, I think I don’t have to say that. [Our] action will speak for itself,” he said when asked about the killing of a Captain and three other Army men in the Rajouri sector.
The Captain and three jawans were killed and at least four people were injured on February 4 in the heavy shelling by Pakistan along the LoC.
Gen. Chand also accused the Pakistani Army of supporting the infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.
“We will continue with our process of giving a befitting reply [to such acts],” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here, adding that there were even incidents of mutilation of bodies of jawans in 2017.
“We have been responding appropriately,” he said.
“There has been cross-border shelling from their [Pakistan’s] side. And one of the shells landed near the officer and his men, leading to the casualties,” he said when asked about Sunday’s shelling.
Captain Kapil Kundu, a resident of village Ransika in Haryana’s Gurgaon district, was killed just six days before his 22nd birthday, Army officials said.
Havildar Roshan Lal, 42, a resident of Samba district, Jammu and Kashmir; Riflemen Ramavatar, 27, of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh; and Subham Singh, 23, of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district were also killed in the shelling.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said earlier on Monday Indians had full faith in the valour of the Army.
“People of the country have full faith in the valour of the Indian Army,” the Minister said outside Parliament when asked about the steps India would take in response to the attack.
