Jammu residents condemn Uri attack, demand action against Pakistan

Scores of candlelight marches were held in Jammu on Tuesday in remembrance of the 18 soldiers who were martyred in Uri terror attack even as people raised anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded stern action against “those sponsoring terrorism”.

On Sunday, heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had stormed the army base in Uri in Kashmir killing 18 jawans.

Expressing their anguish over the attack, the protesters demanded strong action by India in retaliation to the attack in order “to teach Pakistan a lesson”.

Members of the civil society, trade associations and religious organisations came out in large numbers at several places in the city to pay their respects to the slain soldiers.

“Pakistan has been continuously stabbing India in the back, be it Samba, Kathua, Gurdaspur, Udhampur, Pathankot and now Uri and we are tolerating all this without doing anything,” a protestor Pardeep Gupta said.

“Every time we are attacked by Pakistan-sponsored, trained and funded terrorists we adopt a week-kneed approach, but this time the Indian government should show some guts and punish those responsible for the killing of our soldiers,” he added.

The protesters also set on fire an effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. They said the entire country would stand behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi “if he decides to take strong step to teach Pakistan a lesson”.

Taranjeet Singh, a resident of Vijaypur, said “India is fed up with the daily pin pricks by Pakistan and its threshold of patience has been breached”.

“If the killing of 18 soldiers does not wake us, nothing else ever will. The incubator of terrorism should be taught a lesson. India must target Pakistan diplomatically and strategically to avenge the killings of our 18 brave men,” said Singh.