Antony's statement changed after PM's approval: Yashwant Sinha

After issuing a breach of privilege notice against Defence Minister A.K. Antony for his statement regarding the five soldiers who were killed in Poonch District on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday maintained that Antony had changed his statement with the approval of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

While Pakistan has denied the involvement of its troops in the incident, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said that the intruders who killed the five Indian soldiers were "terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniform."

Antony's statement has attracted a lot of flak, as it has contradicted the Indian Army's account, which said that the perpetrators were "soldiers from the Pakistan Army."

"I had issued a breach of privilege notice against the Defence Minister for misleading the House and altering the statement of the Indian Army. According to this, he was not behaving like the Defence Minister of India, but rather as that of Pakistan and I brought this up in Parliament. The statement was changed after the approval of the Prime Minster," Sinha said.

Sinha also criticized Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for remaining silent on the issue in Parliament, saying that he didn't give any answers as usual.

Further, Sinha demanded an apology from Antony to the House of Parliament as well as to the nation. "Antony must apologise to Parliament and the country for his incorrect statement," he said.

Earlier today, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari appealed to parties not to politicise the Line of Control killings.

The Prime Minister is expected to meet opposition parties on the Poonch District killings today before taking a decision on their response to Pakistan.

On Tuesday morning, Pakistani soldiers had intruded into Indian territory and ambushed five Indian soldiers who were patrolling an area along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch District.