The Army on Wednesday said it was above religion, and treats all soldiers equally irrespective of their religious identity.

“We do not communalise martyrs, those making statements do not know the Army well,” said Northern Command Chief General Devraj Anbu, according to ANI. He was referring to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s comment a day earlier pointing out that most of the soldiers killed in the attack on the Sunjuwan Army camp in Jammu district were Muslim.

Six soldiers, a civilian and three militants died in the attack. “Out of the seven killed in Jammu, five were Kashmiri Muslims including a woman who was pregnant. Now everybody is silent on their death,” Owaisi had said. “Why such silence on this issue?” It should be a lesson to those questioning the loyalty of Muslims and calling them Pakistani, he had said.

Anbu added that the Sunjuwan attack showed that the enemy was frustrated. “Enemy is frustrated and is trying softer targets, when they fail at borders they attack on camps,” he said. “Youths joining terror is a concern, we need to address this trend.”

He added that social media was also responsible for the increase in militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. “It is engaging the youth at a large scale, and I think we need to focus on this issue.”