Exact revenge for soldiers killed in J&K encounter: Shiv Sena

There has been a spurt in terrorist attacks in recent weeks in which several civilians were killed

A day after five army personnel were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said revenge must be exacted five times the fatality of soldiers in the face-off with terrorists.

An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' claimed that after the nullification of special provisions of Article 370, which took away the special rights given to Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan sympathisers have been emboldened. Militants are trying to create an environment where people from different faiths cannot enter the Valley, it said.

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There has been a spurt in terrorist attacks in recent weeks in which several civilians, including a prominent Kashmiri Pandit businessman and a school teacher, were killed.

Referring to these killings, the Sena said such violent incidents give a feeling whether the situation is becoming like the one in 1990s when thousands of Kashmiri Pandits were compelled to leave the Valley.

“The Indian minds will not get peace till the time terrorists who killed the five soldiers are pulverised,” the party said in its editorial. “Before the blood of the five soldiers killed in the Surankote encounter dries, revenge must be exacted five times the soldiers (panch ka pachchis) killed,” it added.

Five army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), and two terrorists were killed in three encounters in different districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

The soldiers lost their lives in firing by terrorists in a village close to Dera Ki Gali (DKG) in Surankote area of the border district of Poonch after the army and police launched a joint operation following intelligence inputs about the presence of ultras who had infiltrated from across the Line of Control (LoC).

Two militants were killed and a policeman was injured during encounters in Anantnag and Bandipora districts. On Monday, activists of the Shiv Sena and Dogra Front held anti-Pakistan protests after the death of five army personnel and also burnt an effigy of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for aiding and abetting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

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