If Pakistan does not return the severed head of the martyred soldier Hemraj, India should get at least 10 heads from the other side, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.
“The question is: Will we sit without any reaction and engage in a dialogue [with Pakistan]? This should not happen. At least the government should react in some way. That is why we have said the government should take some tough measures,” she said, talking to reporters here after visiting Hemraj’s family along with party leaders Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh.
Hemraj, along with Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, was killed on January 8 by the Pakistan Army regulars after infiltrating into the Indian territory in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Today, the nation is demanding: Don’t prove a weak government. They [the Pakistan Army] came on the LoC, killed our soldier and took away his head with them and there should be no reaction ... this should not be tolerated at any cost.”
Ms. Swaraj said: “The government should apologise for the apathy. They should apologise to the family of the soldier and the country. But they should at the same time take revenge for the incident.”
She said Hemraj’s wife Dharamvati was “disturbed about two things — one is about the honour of her husband. She said I couldn’t even see his face. As you know that his body arrived without the head, she is shocked at this, but nobody from the government came for his final rites. The other is about the honour and dignity. Both her feelings are legitimate.” Ms. Sushma said: “When the entire country is feeling outraged, the government didn’t even inform [us] when and how the last rites will be performed.”
There should have been sincere efforts by the government to be present at Hemraj’s last rites.
“As per rules, the Defence Minister should have himself come here. If he couldn’t come, the State Minister should have definitely come. The Home Minister should have come, somebody from the PMO or some State Minister should have come. There is Army in Mathura ... somebody from the Central Command in Delhi should have come. But the kind of apathy that has been shown, their grievance is genuine,” said Ms. Sushma.
Keywords: Sushma Swaraj, jawan mutiliation, Indo-Pak border, ceasefire violation, LoC
At last some fighting talk from a politician. This stance shouuld be taken by the central govt, but i feel they project a very weak and feeble image in the world. Always the long-suffering victim of terror by Pakistan. The reason why Pak military has gotten away with it for so long. India has no backbone, thanks mainly to the current crop of politicians. Time to show Pakistan the long-awaited iron fist.
It is not a language of civilized society. There are other ways to take revenge.
Civilized society should help uncivilized society like pakistan to learn humanity and avoid barbic act like beheading an innocent soldier who was working for money to feed his family back home.
Very sensible comments by your readers as opposed comments of people
in authority.
We are in a time warp really - and keep going through same set of events over and over again.
The moment there is even a semblance of positive movement between us something happens. Few weeks back I was telling to some of my Indian colleagues here that keep your fingers crossed because I sense despite everything there is a persistent positive trend and this does not bode well.
Honestly I doubt that with current leadership any normalization
could take place. Problems left simmering by bigger minds will
continue to haunt us. At least find an other Vajpayee.
Very responsible statement, madam.
Our politicians are unmatched in the world at "discussing" issues and also number one in "doing nothing" about them.
It is reaaly sad to hear such an irresponsible statement from leader of national party.
After 26/11 incident India should have shown that it has a back bone and some self respect. So far that is missing.
Seems all thinkers have gathered to preach when a son is killed and his body is mutiliated.
Is this something to be diplomatically resolved .... other son's are taking bullets on their chest so we peacefully write our comments.
This is like asking death for the rapist is "low point" or "head seekers" ..... neither the crime is civil nor will be the punishment.
Keep indulging peace talks in 5 stars and let brothers and son die as well as get mutiliated.
I am afraid to say many commentators just seem to provide BJP a centerstage with permanance obsession to speak against BJP. That is why such feeble response from our government for a son's death is remaining unquestioned!!
Second time ashamed to be Indian ..... 1st. Delhi gangrape 2. To be amongst Indians brothers who do think beaheading not something to feel angry about it.
We have often heard politicians speaking a language unbecoming of them. But Sushma
Swaraj takes the cake in this respect if she has said what she has been reported to have
said about getting "ten heads". Our senior leaders will do well to weigh their words
before commenting on serious matters.
As patriotic Indians we should pay our respectful tribute to the soldiers who became martyrs of India. The grief of the family members of Hemraj, the soldier who was beheaded brutally by the Pak army is shared across India.Our army chief's instruction to his men to be more aggressive and meet fire with fire is befitting a soldier. Indian govt should act tough, availing all the possible options to de-escalate the volatile situation so as to put an end to this kind of ceasefire violations by Pak which is becoming a failed state in all aspects.But Ms Susma Swaraj's rhetoric to bring ten heads for the lost one is just to gain political applause by appeasing the bottled anger of her supporters; calling for revenge and retaliation is tantamount to asking the govt to declare full scale war. It is disappointing to hear responsible leaders speaking such language at this juncture.
These people have always been warmongers and hatemongers. They have ruined this country in the last 20 years in the name of Ram. What else could we expect from jingoistic xenophobes?
What a senseless statement! Try to get ten heads and may be we will also
lose another ten. Twenty headless bodies to twenty homes on both sides
of the border plunging their families in unbearable grief. But she seems
to think this is like an IPL match and will probably cheer if we get
more heads. And she is making this statement because she is safely away
from the border, and other poor people are doing the fighting.
Wrong comment at wrong time from a responsible person????
The body of the soldier should not have been handed over to the family
with out head. The body should have been kept in the mortuary in
Delhi and effort to obtain the head should have been made under
information to the family. The family should have been convinced that
all efforts and pressure was made by the government to obtain the
head.
Secondly, A Minister from the center or state and Military personnel should have been present during the funeral and the soldier who laid his life for the nation deserved a funeral parade in full honour.
(We may recall that an Italian minister flew down to Cochin and stayed for weeks when two of their soldiers were arrested for shooting from a vessel resulting in death of two fishermen! An Italian Air Craft flew down to Cochin to pick them on bail to take them for Christmas holiday on bail.)
These type of measures are important to maintain morale of our forces and get a feeling that they are being taken care of while alive or dead in action.
After the monumental folly of the NDA Government headed by Atal Bihari
Vajpayee in exercising the nuclear option in 1998 war is not an option
between the two countries. In this background Sushma’s demand of ten
heads of Pakistani soldiers is childish and at best may humour the
unthinking jingoistic supporters of the saffron party. The leaders of
the party do not have the decency to understand that when the
country’s sovereignty is threatened there is need for leaders to speak
with one voice to send the right message across the border. All other
countries in the world follow this principle. Contrast this attitude
of BJP with that of Congress leaders at the time of Parliament attack.
It should also be noted that any disruption in normalization between
India and Pakistan would only please Hafeez sayeed and the drum
beaters for war among communalists of the rightwing. We should not
play into their hands.
This lady needs to learn to restrain and finetune her oratory,very much like Narendra Modi.
Being a parliamentarian especially from the leadership layer the Nation expects responsible & matured speeches or news conferences which could heal the tension for the sake of credible position of the Nation & the humanity at large. As an ideal and powerful nation we should restrain ourselves
And someone said, 'Atleast our leaders are more sophisticated than
the Taliban'
In incidents like this, I would expect the government and opposition to work together and
present one voice. There is no need for war hawking or making provocative comments like
this. Times have changed. I wonder how many of the political leaders have visited the
homes of our brave, martyred jawans who are not in the news.
The statement given by BJP leader Smt. Sushma Swaraz is provocative without
any purpose to solve in this matter . It has no logic.What's the sin did
by those who's heads Shusma wants to be beheaded .The act did by the
Pakistani forces is very heinous and every body condemns it our army
must have retaliated immidiately at that time.
People in high places and more particularly Political Leaders must watch what they say and how they say and where they say. They must realise all its potential consequences. The way it might be read or interpreted or understood. In the first place it is the Media which picks up and gives their meaning or what they understand it to mean and the possible hideden meaning. More often than not they are forced
to clarify or get their followers to clarify. All this is needless public discourse.
If they have to say something, say it all means but bear in mind all its direct and indirect implications.
Two topics that Politicians must be extremely cautious on - Defence and related issues, and Issues on Foreign Affairs.They have consequences far beyond what their constituencies. They have long term implications and above all they cannot be taken back easily.
It is indeed sad that a lady running in candidature for PM post should be talking in this language. It is a common knowledge that in Pakistan a war is on between moderates and hardcore Islamists who do not want any improvement of relationship between India and Pakistan.This division is also in armed forces and can be seen by the even dress and demeanor of such soldiers The persons who cut and took away the head of Indian soldier were obviously the group who expected to inflame such passion in India and to derail the peace process and it is clear they have succeeded in their nefarious mission. Was their brutality more brutal than our own countrymen who raped and tortured a poor girl
I am surprised at the low depth to which such a senior leader can go to get political mileage. Every one knows BJP only sabre rattle and when it comes to crunch , they have no coherent policy or plan.It is condemnible. We have always distinguished ourselves in the world from Pakistan with a clear message that we are a civilized nation. Coming this kind of reaction from a leader who could move into PM shoes puts us in bad light. Army knows how to react proportionately to such provocations. Certainly, they do not need Madam Sushama's advices on tactical matters. Leave it to them and at a time when the nation is in grief, trying to fish for political gain in reprehensible. I am a BJP supporter but after this I shall never support them again because they do not know what is national interest. I am sure RSS leadership would talk to her on this as I believe when it comes to nation they have a better understanding . People like Sushama and Jaswant Singh are the real tragedy of BJP.
It doesn't behoove a person of the status of Ms.Sushma Swaraj,the fiery and very vocal BJP leader to make irresponsible statement like the one about getting ten heads if the Pak Government doesn't return Lance Naik Hemraj's decapitated head.Such violent utterings do not produce any results barring the general populace to resort to violence within the country leading to unnecessry loss of lives and property not to mention loss of man hours and other attendant damages.On the contrary,one would have expected her to apply her mind and make cogent suggestions to defuse the situation and also secure the soldier's head.
It is easy to make such irresponsible statements when you are out of power and just watching events from the sideline Much as the anger is fully justified such inflammatory staements from a person waiting to become the PM of the country is bit immature
It is irresponsible for a national leader to talk in this tone. If you want to retaliate, just do it. Don't talk about it beforehand. It only shows that it is not seriously meant.
Taliban is about to come back to power in Afghanistan. And the pakistanis want war and relive the past. And that's why they are provoking us.
This is the typical style of Indian politician, changing color when in opposition. What did BJP government do after parliamentary attack except to mobilize the army at the cost of crores of rupees and then quietly withdrawing them without any action. Anyway collecting heads from across LOC is not as easy as in Gujarat. Speech for public consumption is different from ground realities.
There should an assertive person with leadership qualities sent to Pakistan and they should be engaged in a dialogue to prevent this type of mishaps. India does not have any strong leaders. It has leaders that lie blatantly and cover themselves up without any regard for the people of India
Susma Swaraj is correct.
this appeasement by the govt.must stop.
Eye for an eye.That`s the only way to treat Pakistan.
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