The army has issued a warning, saying "such despicable act will be appropriately responded".
Prem Sagar, the Border Security Force soldier who was mutilated by Pakistan, was cremated this morning at his village in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria. Head Constable Sagar's family had refused to cremate his body, insisting that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visit them. They agreed to hold the last rites after the Chief Minister spoke to them late last night.
Constable Sagar and Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh were part of a three-member team that had gone to the spot on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir to check on a snapped communication line. Their
mutilated bodies were recovered around 8:30 on Monday morning. Top sources said they could have been decoyed there and there is a possibility that the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba could have been involved in the attack, with the backing of the Pakistani army.
The sarpanch of the village, Rajinder Singh, told ANI that the people were "angry". "The government should take revenge, otherwise soldiers will keep getting martyred," he said.
In Punjab's Tarn Taran district, the cremation of Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh too, was held up for a while earlier today, as the family refused to believe he was dead. Whose body is this? It is all behind (concealed in) this box" they said, pointing to the coffin draped with the national flag. "We are not being shown the body? Why?" they questioned.
When the soldier's wife, Paramjit Kaur, insisted on a last look,
she was distraught at the sight of the headless body. "I am proud of my husband but it is very painful to see the state of his body," she wailed.
Demands for retribution have come from all quarters.
The opposition parties have urged the government to punish Pakistan, which has denied India's allegations.
The
army has issued a warning, saying "such despicable act will be appropriately responded". Hinting at strong action which goes over and above counter-fire at the Line of Control, Union Minister Arun Jaitley has said, "Such acts are unheard of even during war...The sacrifice of these soldiers will not go in vain... the army will respond appropriately." Last year, after the huge terror strike at Uri, the army had launched surgical strikes on terror bases across the Line of Control.