Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has warned stone-pelters in Kashmir of stern action if they will not desist from pelting stones on Army convoys.
The Army Chief was reacting to the death of a 22-year-old soldier who succumbed to his injuries in an Army base hospital after being hit by a stone directly in the head during a stone-pelting incident in Anantnag in South Kashmir. Sepoy Rajendra Singh was part of the Quick Action Team responsible for providing security cover to a convoy of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) passing through Anantnag bypass on Thursday evening. A senior police officer of Anantnag told The Sunday Guardian that Army has filed an FIR against the stone-pelters. Police said they too have registered a case and they will arrest the culprits soon. In the past few days, three Army soldiers have been killed in three different incidents in Kashmir valley while during the previous night, a CISF ASI was killed in a terrorist attack at Wagura Nowgham on the outskirts of Srinagar city.In his stern message, General Rawat has criticised those who had been pleading the Army not to treat the stone-pelters as “overground workers of terrorists”.
Blaming Pakistan for the current spell of violence in the Valley, the Army Chief said that the neighbouring country wants to stall development in Jammu and Kashmir and warned it of carrying out different operations if they don’t stop using terror to keep the pot boiling in the state. An Army spokesman here said that Singh with head injury was provided all possible medical aid at 92 Base Hospital but he succumbed on Friday. Singh hailed from Uttarakhand and had joined Army in 2016. Another 23-year-old soldier Ngamsiamliana was killed in Tral town of Pulwama when terrorists attached an Army camp there. Similarly, Lance Naik Brijesh Kumar was killed when he sustained splinter injuries during an encounter in Pazalpura area of Sopur in North Kashmir on Friday. He hailed from Una district of Himachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, Governor Satya Pal Malik has asked DGP Dilbagh Singh to ensure that streets and highways are cleared from mob violence. He has expressed his deep anguish over the attacks on Army convoys by stone-pelting mobs.