Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Mar 22: The Border Security Force (BSF) today described the militant attack on its troops as an act of desperation and said that force will not be provoked by such incident and will ensure maximum restraint in future as well.
Inspector General of BSF, Kashmir Frontier, P S Sandhu told reporters here that the attack was carried out by the elements, who do not want peace and progress in Jammu and Kashmir.
The IG said that the attack did not indicate rise in militancy. He said that the attack on the BSF jawans was an act of desperation by unscrupulous elements who did not want peace and progress.
Sandhu said despite the attack by militants the jawans were not provoked and exercised total restraint. “It was an unfortunate incident, a cowardly act on the part of militants. There was huge number of civilian movement at the time of the incident and had our boys retaliated, there would have been civilian causalities,” he said.
Sandhu and officers of the BSF laid wreath on the coffin of constable Kishan Kalita at Subsidiary Training Centre Humhama. Kalita was killed in a militant attack on a BSF convoy near Chanapora bridge in the outskirts of the city yesterday. Two BSF jawans were also injured in the attack.
This is for the second time that no politician was present in the wreath laying ceremony of a security jawan who was killed by militants. Not only politicians, no police official attended the wreath laying ceremony. Apart from BSF, IG CRPF, Kashmir, V.S. Yadav attended the wreath laying.
The function was to be started at around 11 a.m. but it started at around 12 noon after no politician and police officer turned up for the wreath laying ceremony.
A BSF official told reporters that some police officers were scheduled to attend the wreath laying and that led to the delay of the function. However, no officer turned up even after one hour of delay.
Earlier anger erupted among CRPF jawans on March 13 over absence of State political leaders at the wreath laying ceremony at Police Control Room, Srinagar that was held in memory of their five colleagues killed in a suicide attack.
Some CRPF personnel even targeted Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for not being present at the ceremony. Abdullah later drove to the airport and laid wreaths on the coffins of the five jawans before the bodies were airlifted to Delhi to be taken to their home towns.
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