Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: The nation is outraged. “Enough is enough, India should hit back at Pakistan,” is what India is demanding after five Indian soldiers were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
The pressure is on the Congress-led UPA government to ‘respond’ and move ahead of usual practice of issuing missives to Pakistan.
Protests were held across the country yesterday. An overwhelming majority of people hold the view that India has tolerated enough and it is time to take aggressive stance against Pakistan.
An opinion poll started by Zee News at 6 am on Wednesday has so far elicited over 56,400 responses, with 99% of the respondents agreeing that their patience is running out.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the five brave soldiers – Naik Prem Nath, Lance Naik Shambu Saran, Sepoy Vijay Kumar Ray and Sepoy Raghunandan Prasad from Bihar and Naik Pundalik Mane from Maharashtra – are expected to reach their native states today. The bodies will reach Delhi by 11.30 am if weather permits.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced that the martyrs will be accorded state funeral and their families will be given ex-gratia relief of Rs 10 lakh each.
In Delhi, the opposition is in a combative mood and has hit out at the government and asked it to take stern action against Pakistan, whose troops have violated ceasefire along the LoC several times over the past one month.
A delegation of senior BJP leaders will be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later today.
Not long ago, Pakistani troops had entered the Indian side of LoC in Poonch and killed two Indian soldiers, one of whom was beheaded and his head taken away.
Responding to the criticism and the incident, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said the government is well prepared and will respond accordingly to the development.
The government, however, maintained silence on next month`s Indo-Pak dialogue, which many are demanding that it be called off.
