Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday warned that the security forces will take strict action against stone pelters, and told protestors to stop targeting Army personnel, reported News18. Rawat’s warning comes a day after 22-year-old soldier Rajendra Singh died in a stone-pelting incident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag.
“Jawan who lost his life after being attacked by stone pelters was guarding a Border Roads team which was constructing roads, and then we have some people saying do not treat stone-pelters like OGWs [over ground workers] of terrorists,” ANI quoted Rawat as saying. He made the remarks after paying tribute at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in New Delhi on the occasion of Infantry Day.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have registered a First Information Report against those who hurled stones at the Army convoy that Singh was accompanying, News18 reported.
The Army chief accused Pakistan of using terror to keep the “pot boiling” in Jammu and Kashmir. “Pakistan is fully aware they can never succeed...” ANI quoted him as saying. “They want to stall development in Kashmir but [the] Indian state is strong enough to counter everything, and we are fully capable of carrying out different ops.”
In September, Rawat said there was a need for another surgical strike against Pakistan but refused to provide more details.
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