Sunjuwan attack: Pak will pay for this misadventure, says Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman asserted that evidence related to Jaish's involvement in the terror attack would be shared with Pakistan

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said militants who killed five soldiers and a civilian at an Army camp in Jammu were Pakistanis and warned that Pakistan will pay a price for the terror attack.

"Pakistan will have to pay for this misadventure," Sitharaman told reporters here. The deaths of "our soldiers won't go in vain".

The minister was in Jammu to take stock of the situation at the Sunjuwan Army camp which three heavily armed militants stormed it on Saturday morning and entered the residential quarters of junior commissioned officers, spraying bullets and hurling bombs.

The operation was called off on Monday morning after the three attackers were killed. A fourth one, she said, may have been a guide and didn't enter the military base.

Sitharaman said the three militants were all Pakistanis and were handled by their Jaish-e-Muhammad leaders across the border. "The demography of the cantonment and the adjoining area indicates the possibility of local support to the terrorists."

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman enquires about health of an injured victim of militant attack at Sunjwan Army camp, in military hospital in Jammu on Monday. Picture credits: PTI Photo

The Minister asserted that evidence related to Jaish's involvement in the terror attack would be shared with Pakistan. "Giving evidence to Pakistan is a continuous process. It will have to be proved over and over again that they are responsible."

She said giving evidence to Pakistan would not prevent the Indian Army from responding "appropriately and at a time we deem fit".

Earlier, the Minister undertook an aerial survey of the Army station and visited the Army Hospital in Jammu city where those injured in the terror attack were being treated.

She also called on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.