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| Army Chief says guilty in Sopore to be punished | | |
New Delhi, March 18: Promising punishment to personnel guilty of the Sopore killings, Army on Wednesday said its internal probe would be complete by next week and the force would not hesitate to take action for any breach of discipline.
"The army inquiry is likely to be finalised in the next week or so, and based on that, we shall take action if the inquiry finds any of those, who are involved, guilty," Army chief General Deepak Kapoor told reporters here.
Kapoor's strong message against human rights violations by army personnel against civilians comes a day after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Defence Minister A K Antony and sought action against security personnel, who reportedly shot dead two civilians in Sopore on February 22.
Stating that his policy was to always punish any army personnel found guilty of human rights violation, Kapoor said: "The army would not hesitate to take action required for breach of discipline."
To a query on likely infiltration by militants from Pakistan ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army chief said the militancy infrastructure in the neighbouring country to push in the insurgents was intact and so were the army preparations to tackle the threats.
"The fact that the infrastructure for pushing in infiltrators is intact," Kapoor said on the sidelines of an investiture-eve reception hosted by him for service and gallantry medal winners.
Noting that the security agencies could not take anything for granted, Kapoor said: "Should anything happen, we are preparing for all contingencies and that is how we are preparing for the coming elections too."
Pointing out that currently the passes in Line of Control between India and Pakistan was closed due to snow and hence the infiltration is at a low ebb, the Army chief said.
Notwithstanding that, the army was quite ready with counter insurgency posture, he said.
"A three-tier posture is in place. Our endeavour would be to ensure no infiltration takes place," Kapoor said.
"Should any infiltration still takes place, we have adequate forces to ensure that the environment remains peaceful so that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are able to exercise their right of franchise without any hindrance in a stable environment," he added.
Pointing out that the 61 per cent voting in the border state during the Assembly polls last year was much higher than the national average, Kapoor expressed hope that the percentage would be maintained during the Lok Sabha polls too.
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