Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday spoke to the Chief of Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi, who apprised him about the ground situation and ongoing operation in J&K’s Doda. According to sources Rajnath Singh has given free hand and liberty to act.
“Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh spoke to CoAs, General Upendra Dwivedi this morning. RM was apprised of the ground situation and the ongoing Counter Terrorist Op in Doda by the Army Chief,” Singh’s office said on X.
In a tweet, the defence minister said he is saddened by the deaths of soldiers in the counter-terrorist operation and added that the “soldiers remain committed to eliminate the scourge of terrorism and restore peace in the region.”
Four army personnel, including an officer, who were critically injured in a gunfight with heavily armed terrorists, succumbed to injuries in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir early Tuesday, official sources said.
The latest incident comes a week after a terrorist ambush on an Army patrol in the remote Machedi forest belt in Kathua district claimed the lives of five soldiers and injured as many.
Meanwhile, the Congress hit out at the Centre over the deaths of soldiers in Doda and asked what happened to all those “grand claims” made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Jammu and Kashmir.
Calling the attack extremely sad and worrying, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi asked the government to take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses in the region.
Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said he was deeply distressed by the martyrdom of the four soldiers. “Our heart goes out to the families of our bravehearts, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of Bharat Mata. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and we wish him a speedy and complete recovery,” he said.
“The spate of terror attacks that has gripped Jammu and Kashmir in the past 36 days, needs careful recalibration in our security strategy. The Modi government is acting as if everything is ‘business as usual’ and nothing has changed. They must know that increasingly the Jammu region is bearing the brunt of these attacks,” Kharge added.
