Saffron party Shiv Sena has strongly condemned the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani troops. The party has attacked the Central government for pursuing cricket diplomacy and talks with Pakistani counterparts when the neighboring country was involved in cross firing and promoting insurgency. Shiv Sena has demanded the resignation of defence minister A K Antony.
Sena MP and spokesman Sanjay Raut claimed that Antony has turned out to be the most ineffective and inactive defence minister and he should step down from the post against the backdrop of yesterday's killings. "We should immediately stop talks with Pakistan. Our party demands that the cricket diplomacy should be discontinued and the Pakistani actors and performers should be denied entry into the country. It is high time that the government should not take yesterday's killings lightly but take aggressive postures against Pakistan," Raut said.
Raut's stand comes at a time when Shiv Sena had opely opposed Pakistan cricket team's recent visit to India. Further, the party also took strong objection against Indian goverment's move to grant the visa to Pakistan's former cricket Javed Miandad who is related to the underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim. Incidentally, Miandad cancelled his India trip.
Earlier, Antony said India will "convey its protest" to Pakistan over the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani troops. We will convey our protest to the Pakistan government and our Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) will talk to his counterpart in Pakistan."
The minister called the killings on Tuesday by Pakistani troops as "highly provocative". "The way they have treated the body of the Indian soldiers, it is inhuman," he said.