Pakistan ceasefire violation: Army denies mutilation of jawans’ bodies

A Major and three soldiers were killed by Pakistan Army firing along the LoC at Rajouri in the Pir Panjal Valley when their patrol team came under fire.

Fencing along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. File

The Army denied reports of mutilation of bodies of personnel who were killed during Pakistan’s December 23 ceasefire violation along the Line of Control.

“There has been no mutilation of bodies. The injuries suffered were due to splinters and gunshot wounds sustained due to firing by the enemy on the patrol,” a senior officer said on December 24.

A Major and three soldiers were killed by Pakistan Army firing along the LoC at Rajouri in the Pir Panjal Valley when their patrol team came under fire.

There were rumours that the deaths occurred due to action by Pakistan Border Action Team (BAT) and the bodies were badly mutilated.

The personnel were from 2 Sikh regiment and were posted in the Chingus area of Rajouri. They were identified as Major Moharkar Prafulla Ambadas, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh, Sepoy Pargat Singh and Sepoy Gurmeet Singh.

The Army said in a statement that they had retaliated “strongly and effectively” adding “martyrdom of Indian Army soldiers will not go in vain”.

These developments come a day before the mother and wife of former Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav are scheduled to meet him in Islamabad. Jadhav is on death row for alleged charges of spying.

There were rumours that the deaths occurred due to action by Pakistan Border Action Team (BAT) and the bodies were badly mutilated.

The personnel, Major Moharkar Prafulla Ambadas, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh, and sepoys Gurmeet Singh and Pargat Singh, were from 2 Sikh Regiment and posted in Chingus area of Rajouri. The Army said in a statement that it had retaliated “strongly and effectively” and warned that the “martyrdom of Indian Army soldiers will not go in vain.”

In retaliatory fire by Indian forces, a Pakistan Army sniper was neutralised in Jhangar sector in Naushera around 11 a.m.

Pakistan continued to violate ceasefire for the second consecutive day for over four hours in Jammu’s Poonch district on Sunday.

A defence official said Pakistani troops targeted frontier villages in Poonch in the Pir Panchal Valley around 12.55 p.m.

“The areas of Shahpur and Kerni remained the main targets of Pakistani fire. Many posts were also targeted,” said a local official.

The exchange of small arms fire “forced locals to stay indoors.” There were no reports of any casualty on this side.