<p class="title rtejustify">BJP Rajya Sabha member D P Vats has said that stone-pelters in Kashmir Valley should be hit with bullets.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Pakistan has started a proxy war with the country and each day our forces in Jammu and Kashmir are being attacked, the former commandant of Pune's Armed Forces Medical College said yesterday.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"...I am of the opinion that stone-pelters should be hit with bullets," Vats said when asked about the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to withdraw cases against people involved in stone-pelting incidents.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Pakistan has not learnt a lesson despite tasting defeat many times in direct wars with India and is now engaged in proxy war, the retired lieutenant general told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Bhiwani yesterday.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">When PTI today asked him if he stood by his comment, Vats said, "I am an Army officer, the Army has been fighting a proxy war waged by Pakistan for a long time. What does my soldier fighting this proxy war on the ground in Kashmir expect of me? As an Army officer, I stand by what I have said."</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He also said that each day bodies of soldiers killed in Kashmir are sent to their native places.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"What should soldiers expect of their officers. We cannot let down their morale. They cannot be attacked and pelted with stones," he said.<br /><br />Vats (69), who hails from Hisar, was recently elected to the Upper House of Parliament. He had served as the director and commandant of the prestigious AFMC, Pune.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He has also served as the chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission between May 2011 and April 2012 during the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in the state.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">On June 1, two youths were injured after they had allegedly been hit by a CRPF vehicle during clashes between protesters and security forces in Nowhatta area here in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The duo was taken to SKIMS hospital at Soura here where one of them -- Kaiser Bhat -- succumbed around midnight.</p>
<p class="title rtejustify">BJP Rajya Sabha member D P Vats has said that stone-pelters in Kashmir Valley should be hit with bullets.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Pakistan has started a proxy war with the country and each day our forces in Jammu and Kashmir are being attacked, the former commandant of Pune's Armed Forces Medical College said yesterday.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"...I am of the opinion that stone-pelters should be hit with bullets," Vats said when asked about the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to withdraw cases against people involved in stone-pelting incidents.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Pakistan has not learnt a lesson despite tasting defeat many times in direct wars with India and is now engaged in proxy war, the retired lieutenant general told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Bhiwani yesterday.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">When PTI today asked him if he stood by his comment, Vats said, "I am an Army officer, the Army has been fighting a proxy war waged by Pakistan for a long time. What does my soldier fighting this proxy war on the ground in Kashmir expect of me? As an Army officer, I stand by what I have said."</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He also said that each day bodies of soldiers killed in Kashmir are sent to their native places.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"What should soldiers expect of their officers. We cannot let down their morale. They cannot be attacked and pelted with stones," he said.<br /><br />Vats (69), who hails from Hisar, was recently elected to the Upper House of Parliament. He had served as the director and commandant of the prestigious AFMC, Pune.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">He has also served as the chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission between May 2011 and April 2012 during the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in the state.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">On June 1, two youths were injured after they had allegedly been hit by a CRPF vehicle during clashes between protesters and security forces in Nowhatta area here in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The duo was taken to SKIMS hospital at Soura here where one of them -- Kaiser Bhat -- succumbed around midnight.</p>