BJP bashes Antony for giving "clean chit" to Pak for attack on Jawans

New Delhi, Aug 7: BJP on Wednesday came out on defence minister A K Antony for giving a 'clean chit' to Pakistani army after five Indian soldiers were killed at the LoC in the early hours of Tuesday.

Sushma Swaraj blamed the Antony for changing the statement of the armed forces on the LoC attack and giving Pakistani army an 'escape route'. The ministry of defence in its press release had blamed the Pakistani army for the LoC attack, Sushma Swaraj said.

"AK Antony has let the country down. He should apologise to India," Sushma Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha today.

Five Indian soldiers were killed by a heavily armed "border action team (BAT)" of Pakistan troops and "jihadi elements" in a brazen raid across the Line of Control in the Poonch sector of Jammu & Kashmir in the early hours of Tuesday.

The killings and the resultant fury in Parliament had cast a dark shadow over the resumption of the talks with Pakistan which is slated to resume in a few weeks. Even if the talks were to take place, their scope and level are unlikely to signal full-scale engagement with Pakistan.

The six-member Indian "area domination patrol" was in the stretch between the LoC and the anti-infiltration fence, constructed somewhat deeper inside Indian territory, when it was waylaid by the Pakistani intruders at about 1am on Tuesday. While five were killed, one escaped.

As usual belligerent Pakistan followed up the outrage by escaping from the responsibility of the attack. It issued a statement rejecting "allegations carried by some sections of the Indian media of an attack across the LoC in the Poonch sector in which the Indian soldiers were claimed to have been killed...Our military authorities have confirmed that there had been no exchange of fire that could have resulted in such an accident."

Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon after uproar over Antony's statement.

OneIndia News