Rajouri ceasefire violation: Talk to Pakistan or go for war, says father of soldier killed in shelling

People in two villages of neighbouring Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu region of the state had a message for the Central government on Monday: either engage Pakistan in dialogue, or engage it in a full-fledged war to get lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rajouri ceasefire violation: ‘Talk to Pak or go for war’

A day after Havildar Roshan Lal was killed in shelling by Pakistani forces in Rajouri , his grieving father, Desraj, 85, and younger brother, Darshan Lal, at Nichla village in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir Monday. (Express Photo: Arun Sharma)

Waiting to receive bodies of their sons felled by Pakistani bullets, people in two villages of neighbouring Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu region of the state had a message for the Central government on Monday: either engage Pakistan in dialogue, or engage it in a full-fledged war to get lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Akhir kab tak hamarey bacchey border par shaheed hotey rahengey? Yeh ek purana masla hai…yeh masla khatam hona chahiye aur iskey liye sirf do hi rastey hein: ya aap baat karo, ya jang lado’’ (How long will our children die on the border? This is an old issue and there are only two ways to solve it: either hold talks or go for war),” said Desraj Prasher, 84, whose eldest son, Havildar Roshan Lal, was among the four Indian soldiers killed in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Rajouri district’s Bhimber Gali sector on Sunday.

His nephew Sanjay Sunny said, “We know that war is no solution to any issue, but what has been going on between the two countries at present is also not leading us anywhere. They (Pakistani troops) fire; we (Indian soldiers) retaliate. In this process, our children are being killed.” He said a war will at least give people a feeling that Pakistan has been taught a lesson.

With a population of 300, Nichla village, in Samba district, has more than 40 soldiers. Havildar Roshan Lal, 42, who became the first soldier from the village to die on duty, is survived by wife Asha Devi, son Abhinandan, 15, and daughter Artika, 13. Abhinandan said his father had called home on Saturday night, asking about his preparations for Class X Boards.

Some 40 km away at Mukandpur, in adjoining Kathua, locals waited to receive the body of Rifleman Subham Singh (23). Worried about the upcoming wedding of his elder sisters Arti and Sushma, Subham had seen to it that construction of their house was completed before he left for Rajouri on January 28 after one-month leave, his brother Rajat (19) said.

Rajat said the government should either hold dialogue with Pakistan or go to war.

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