New Delhi, Jan 14 : Amid tension with Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today spoke to BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj and assured them that the Opposition would be kept in loop over the situation.
He told them that National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon would brief them tomorrow on the developments on the LoC where tension prevails ever since Indian soldier Lance Naik Hemraj was beheaded in an attack by Pakistani soldiers on January 8.
Sources said Singh told Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, that nothing is being done which could not be communicated to the Opposition leaders.
He said the Opposition would be kept in loop over the situation and appealed to them that the issue should not be politicised.
The Prime Minister reached out to the Opposition leaders on a day when Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh talked tough and warned Pakistan that India reserves the right to retaliate at the “time and place” of its choosing.
The Army chief termed as “most unpardonable” and “unacceptable” the beheading of Hemraj.
Meanwhile, the Congress talked tough Monday saying India is friends with friends but teaches a lesson to its enemies.
The Congress was referring to the killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops inside the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are friends with friends but teach a lesson to enemies,” Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters.
He said that Pakistan has been violating the LoC for a week and that terrorists were working with its army. The Congress said India does not want a war but no one can threaten the country.
It also slammed the BJP for calling India a soft state.
At the flag meeting held at Chakkan-da-Bagh between Indian and Pakistani brigade commanders today, India took a tough stance and lodged a strong protest over the mutilation of two of its jawans.
The brigadier-level flag meeting was held at Chakan da Bagh on the LoC, about 250 km northwest of Jammu.
The Jan 8 killing of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh and Lance Naik Hemraj - who was decapitated and his head taken away - in the Mendhar sector in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani troops was a “gruesome and an unpardonable act”, army chief General Bikram Singh said.
He added: I expect my commanders on the LoC to be aggressive and offensive.”
Asked about Indian Air Force Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne's remarks that India may have to look for “some other options for compliance” if Pakistan continues to violate the ceasefire, Gen. Singh said that Browne alluded to “diplomatic and economic options”. Gen. Singh said the operation would be dealt by the army at a tactical level.
After the flag meeting, Northern Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Rajesh Kalia said in a statement: “Our representative expressed our grave concern over the barbaric act by Pakistani troops in the recent ambush of our patrol in Mendhar Sector. The Indian army raised a strong protest against the heinous mutilation of our deceased soldier's bodies... it was against the tenets of the Geneva Convention as also in contravention to all established norms of soldierly behaviour.”
The statement added: “Such a dastardly and cowardly act is totally unacceptable and is a premeditated attempt to undermine the ceasefire agreement of 2003, which can lead to further escalation. Repetition of such acts will not be tolerated.”
“The Pakistani delegation leader denied their involvement in the incident and reiterated the false and fabricated allegations that our (Indian) troops crossed the Line of Control and killed one Pakistani soldier and injured another,” the statement said.
Earlier Monday, Gen. Singh termed as “pre-planned and pre-meditated” Pakistan's aggression along the LoC.
The army chief said it was possible that the Pakistani army used terrorists as it had done in the past. He said he was not ruling out the involvement of terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed in the Jan 8 killing of the two Indian soldiers.
Acknowledging there may have been lapses that led to this incident, Gen. Singh said “an immediate inquiry will impact morale of soldiers and that corrective action will be taken later”.
“The firing from Pakistan is a manifestation of their frustration. Their troops are not moving forward but we are watching,” he said.
“What they (Pakistan) have done is against the ethics of soldiering. My heart goes out to the families of soldiers who were killed and whose bodies were mutilated. It's a gruesome and unpardonable act. Beheading of soldiers is not acceptable,” Gen. Bikram Singh told reporters here on the eve of Army Day Monday.
“We will uphold the ceasefire as long as it is maintained. We reserve the right to retaliate at the time and place of our choosing.”
He added that pressure needed to be exerted on Pakistan so the severed head of Hemraj was returned. “This has to be done through diplomatic levels,” he said.
Gen. Singh said the incursion by the Pakistani army required meticulous planning as there had to be an element of surprise and firepower. He added that it would have taken at least seven to eight days to plan the incursion.
Hemraj's wife and kin had been fasting in their village near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, demanding that the severed head of her husband be brought back. They called off the fast after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav visited them Monday.
This is the third incident in the last 13 years. In May 2000, an Indian army soldier was beheaded by Pakistani troops along the LoC. Last July, two Indian troopers were decapitated by Pakistani soldiers.
Ten ceasefire violations by Pakistan have taken place this year. In 2012, the number was 117 and 61 in 2011. Shelling by Pakistan across the LoC is mainly to provide cover to infiltrating militants.
