Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 18
The state government today decided to increase the ex gratia amount for the soldiers killed in action from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, along with a job to the next of kin. “This is the least we can do for our brave soldiers who make the supreme sacrifice for our motherland,” said Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
Should have ordered firing
If the unit was armed, as is being claimed now, the second-in-command should have ordered firing the moment the commanding officer fell to the Chinese treachery.
Terming as horrendous and barbaric the brutality with which 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the Chinese in Galwan valley, the CM demanded accountability for the loss of precious lives in the violent clash, and said the nation was expecting a befitting response from the Centre to this horrific attack.
“Our soldiers at the front should be clearly told that if they kill one of ours, you kill three of theirs,” said Capt Amarinder, making it clear that he was not speaking as a politician, but as a man who had been part of the Army and still loved the institution.
He said his stand on such issues has always been the same, and even after the Pulwama attack, he had declared that “if they kill one of ours we should kill two of theirs”.
Questioning why no orders to fire at the Chinese were given in the face of the brutal attack on the Indian soldiers, the CM said: “Somebody failed to do his job out there, and we need to find out who that was.”
“If the unit was armed, as is being claimed now, the second-in-command should have ordered firing the moment the commanding officer fell to the Chinese treachery. The nation wants to know why our men did not retaliate in the way they are trained to do, and why they did not open fire if they were carrying arms,” he said.