By IANS,
Mathura (Uttar Pradesh): India must isolate Pakistan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari said Monday after visiting the home of Lance Naik Hemraj, who was killed Jan 8 by Pakistani troops near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.
Senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh were also part of the delegation that met the family of the martyr in Shernagar village in Mathura district, about 350 km from the state capital Lucknow.
“The Pakistani government is provoking people with what they are doing,” Gadkari told reporters, demanding an apology. “The government should isolate Pakistan as the incident has disturbed not just the family of the slain martyrs but also every Indian,” he added.
Hemraj Singh and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh of Rajputana Rifles were killed by Pakistan’s army Jan 8, and their bodies were mutilated.
“Such inhuman treatment and such violence is a blot for the whole world,” Gadkari said.
“Both the mother and wife of the martyr are pained that he was not given the respect he deserved. It is true no one from state or central government came for the funeral,” party leader Rajnath Singh added.
Border tensions between India and Pakistan have risen sharply since the Jan 6 death of a Pakistani soldier in alleged firing by Indian forces along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two days later, on Jan 8, Pakistani soldiers killed and mutilated two Indian soldiers in the Mendhar sector in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. The soldiers were identified as Sudhakar Singh and Hemraj.