File photo of Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
New Delhi: Terming the mutilation of the bodies of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan Army as barbaric, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday that the government will respond appropriately and not let the sacrifice of the soldiers go waste.
“The loss of these families cannot be compensated but we will not let their sacrifice go to waste,” he said.
The attack took place in Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Head Constable Prem Sagar of 200th Battalion of the BSF and Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh of 22 Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army attained martyrdom on Monday morning when the Border Action Team of Pakistan launched an attack 250 metres on the Indian side.
The Pakistan army was providing this team cover fire from across the border. The bodies of the two soldiers were beheaded by the Pakistan army after the attack.
The soldiers’ families have said they want action, not assurance. “My 12-year-old nephew is asking for his father. What do I tell him?” asks Ranjeet Singh, brother of Paramjeet.
Speaking to CNN-News18, Ranjeet said: “We keep bragging that our Army is bigger than Pakistan’s entire population. Then why can’t we attack them? What is the Prime Minister and the government doing?”
He even questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the latter’s birthday last year.
Prasad said the dastardly attack exposes Pakistan.“Even prisoners of war are not meted this kind of treatment but we can expect this from Pakistan,” he said.
Replying to the Opposition’s demand that the government needs to back its talk by action, the minister said, “I would expect the opposition to join the nation and speak in one voice.”