NEW DELHI: Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said the killing of five jawans by Pakistan Army in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours today will affect normalisation of ties between the two countries.
“If Pakistan really wants friendly ties, we hope they will stop such activities. Otherwise there will come a time when Indian soldiers might not be able to show restraint,” Mr Abdullah told reporters outside Parliament House.
Friendship has to be built from both sides. It can’t be a one-sided affair,” Mr Abdullah added. Five jawans were killed and one seriously wounded when Pakistan Army opened fire and targeted the Army’s ambush party on the Line of Control in Poonch district of the state. Pakistani Army fired on Indian Army ambush party at forward Indian post in Gulpur area of Poonch Brigade nearby Chakkan-da-Bagh area, official sources said.
They said the operation started at around 0100 hrs and lasted for around two hours.
Dr Abdullah said,”Indian people do not want our soldiers keep on dying and we keep on talking about friendship. Both cannot go on at the same time.”
Both Houses of Parliament saw adjournments over the issue. Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon after the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party entered the well, raising slogans against the unprovoked firing by Pakistani soldiers.
The Rajya Sabha also saw the entire Opposition demanding either Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Defence Minister A K Antony’s statement on the issue which led to the adjournment of the House till 1200 hrs. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter that he “was briefed early this morning about news that 5 of our soldiers had been killed on the LoC.
My heartfelt condolences to their next of kin. “These incidents don’t help efforts to normalise or even improve relations with Pak and call in to question the Pak Govt’s recent overtures,” he added.
