India vowed an "appropriate" response to the beheading of two soldiers by Pakistani forces, saying their sacrifice will not go in vain, as political parties came together to condemn the "barbaric act." As the incident sparked an outrage, a BJP MP R K Singh demanded a tit-for-tat response. The Pakistan Army has denied mutilating the bodies of the two Indian security personnel.
"Such despicable act of Pakistan Army will be appropriately responded," the Indian Army said in a press statement after the soldiers were killed by Pakistani forces in an attack across the Line of Control(LoC) and their bodies mutilated.
Describing the mutilation as an extreme form of barbaric act, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said the whole country has full confidence and faith in its armed forces and that the sacrifice of the two soldiers will not go in vain.
"The Government of India strongly condemns this act and the whole country has full confidence and faith in our armed forces which will react appropriately to this inhuman act. The sacrifice of these two soldiers will not go in vain," Jaitley said.
"This is a reprehensible and an inhuman act. Such attacks don't even take place during war, let alone during peace time."
This is not the first time that the Pakistan Army has exercised its power in such a way. The ever-increasing list entails cases of repeated atrocities committed by Pakistan and its Army:
-November 22, 2016: Three soldiers were killed out of which, body of rifleman Prabhu Singh was mutilated in Jammu and Kashmir’s Machil sector.
-October 28, 2016: Terrorists, aided by the Pakistan Army, crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and killed sepoy Mandeep Singh and mutilated his body in Jammu and Kashmir’s Macchil sector in Kupwara district.
-January 8, 2013: An Indian soldier was beheaded and killed by the Pakistani troops after they entered into the Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir’s Mendhar sector.
-February 2000: Pakistani terrorist and al-Qaida member Ilyas Kashmiri led a raid on Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera sector and took to Pakistan the head of 24-year-old Indian jawan, Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar.
-1999 Kargil conflict: Captain Saurabh Kalia was tortured by Pakistan who later handed over his badly mutilated body to India. Kalia's father is still fighting to get Pakistan to punish the soldiers who were responsible for his son's brutal torture.
