Video Shows Pak Soldiers With White Flag Retrieve Bodies Near LoC

Pakistani soldiers waved a white flag as they emerged against the silhouette of a grassy knoll to retrieve the bodies of their colleagues, who were shot dead by Indian soldiers in retaliation to ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), sources said.

The white flag signifies a non-hostile intention and a message to the Indian side to refrain from retaliation while the Pakistani soldiers take back the two bodies, which lay on a clearing of the foothill at Hajipir sector in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

On September 10, a Pakistani soldier, Sepoy Ghulam Rasool, was shot dead by the Indian Army after Pakistan violated the ceasefire. The Pakistani side then started concentrated firing in an attempt to retrieve the body. However, another soldier fell to Indian retaliation in that fierce engagement.

The Pakistani Army stopped the retrieval attempt for over two days after their second casualty, sources said.

On Friday, three-four Pakistani soldiers carrying a white flag were seen walking towards the bodies. Sources said the Indian Army respects the dead and so allowed them to take back the bodies.

The two soldiers killed in Indian firing were from Pakistani Punjab.

Pakistani forces didn't attempt to retrieve the bodies of some seven soldiers and terrorists killed by the Indian Army on July 30-31 in Keran sector. Sources said it is likely those killed in the Keran fight were not from Pakistani Punjab, but were either from Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry (NLI) or of Kashmiri descent.

Pakistan had disowned its own soldiers killed in the Kargil war in 1999, and Indian soldiers had performed their last rites on the icy heights during the war.

"Pakistan treats Kashmiris and NLI troops as cannon fodder. Punjabi Muslims rule the roost, whether army, politics, social life or national resources," sources said.

"Only when a Punjabi Muslim dies, Pakistan wakes up. All others are expendable. Punjabi Muslims are not," sources said.