The body of an Indian soldier of the 17 Sikh Regiment killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, was mutilated by terrorists. The jawan, according to media reports, has been identified as Manjeet Singh.
The soldier’s body was mutilated, and his head was reportedly carried back across the LoC by the terrorists as they fled back into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, under supporting fire cover by Pakistani troops.
The Army responding to the move has warned Pakistan that this act will be met by an “appropriate response”. Further, in a statement, its spokesman said the incident reflected the barbarism pervading in the official and unofficial organisations in Pakistan.
This incident, which comes on the back of escalated tensions along the LoC, however, is not the first of its kind. Precedent of such ghastly attacks from across the border was set in 1999 when the body of Late Captain Saurabh Kalia was sent back to the Indian side in a mutilated state.
The Quint takes a look at previous incidents of similar brutality.
Mutilation of Late Captain Saurabh Kalia
Captain Saurabh Kalia was one of the first Indian casualties of the 1999 Kargil war.
On 15 May 1999 Captain Kalia, along with five jawans, went on a routine patrol of the Bajrang Post when their patrol was captured by Pakistani intruders after invading Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir.
Captain Kalia and his men were tortured for weeks, after which their mutilated bodies were returned to the Indian Army. The attack was so monstrous that his body was returned to the Indian Amy with his eyes and eardrums pierced, his genitals cut, his chest burned and other barbaric brutalities inflicted on him.
The government’s initial stance was to not approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about the torture and killing of Captain Saurabh Kalia, although under mounting pressure from the media and the opposition, finally decided to push the case of Capt. Kalia’s death at the International Court of Justice, terming “it is as an exceptional circumstance”
Operation Ginger: The Tit-for-Tat Game of Beheadings
As per a report published by The Hindu, India and Pakistan indulged in a spine-chilling game of tit for tat back in 2011, which saw 13 soldiers killed from both sides, of which six were decapitated.
The report claims that Pakistani raiders on the afternoon of 30 July 2011 struck an Army post in Gugaldhar ridge in Kupwara, surprising six soldiers from the Rajput and Kumaon regiments. The Pakistani raiders after the ambush took back the heads of Havildar Jaipal Singh Adhikari and Lance Naik Devender Singh of 20 Kumaon.
Lance-Naiks Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh Attacked
In a chilling reminder of the attack on Capt. Saurabh Kalia in 1999, Pakistan Army – which has been regularly accused of human rights abuses – indulged in another such incident when they martyred two jawans of the Indian Army, Lance Naiks Hemraj and Sudhakar Singh, but only after mutilating their bodies.
According to reports, a "border action team" from the Pakistani Army took advantage of thick fog to penetrate the Mendhar sector of Jammu & Kashmir only to be confronted by the patrolling Lance Naiks.
The Army later revealed that the retreating Pakistani soldiers had chopped off the "head" of the Indian soldiers and taken it back with them.
(With Inputs from The Hindu, PTI, IANS)
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