Give 'free hand' to Army to tackle dangerous situations: Amarinder

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday strongly condemned the barbaric attack in which two security personnel were killed and their bodies mutilated by a Pakistani special forces team, demanding a 'free hand' to the Army to tackle dangerous situations in the line of duty.

The sharp reaction from the Punjab Chief Minister came after two Indian security personnel were today beheaded by a Pakistani special forces team that sneaked 250 metres across the Line of Control (LoC) into the Poonch sector under the cover of heavy mortar fire.

Expressing his concern over the increasing vulnerability of soldiers on the borders, Amarinder Singh, himself an ex- armyman, came out in solidarity with the Indian soldiers.

He said that our soldiers are being exposed to all kinds of risks and atrocities, not only at the hands of enemy forces from across the border but sometimes also at the hands of civilians, as happened recently in Kashmir.

Reacting strongly on today's incident in which bodies of two Indian soldiers were mutilated, he urged the central government to send out a strong signal to the inimical forces against indulging in such atrocities and barbaric acts. He backed the Indian Army's warning of "appropriate response" for the "despicable act." Such unprovoked acts of excessive violence cannot be tolerated or allowed to go unpunished, he said, adding that the Indian soldiers were "not a dispensable commodity to be sacrificed at the altar of such uncivilised and savage assaults".

In a similar vein, he also came down heavily on those criticising the Indian Army's action of tying a man to a jeep to protect its soldiers from the vicious attack unleashed by civilians during the recent elections in Kashmir.