Residents in remote J&K village take part in candlelight march in memory of slain soldiers

Jammu, Apr 23 (PTI) Scores of local residents took part in a candlelight march in a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Sunday to pay homage to the five soldiers who died in last week’s terror attack in Poonch, officials said.

Five soldiers were killed and one injured after terrorists attacked the lone Army truck last week.

The Chingam village in the district’s Chhatroo area, where the march was conducted, was once a hotbed of terrorism before it was purged of the menace by security forces over a decade ago, they said.

The participants condemned the “cowardly attack” on the Indian Army truck that was carrying fruits for Iftar at the local unit of the Rashtriya Rifles for residents of a border village two days before Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramzan.

The villagers who took part in the march raised slogans in praise of the Army and paid tribute to the soldiers who laid down their lives for the country, the officials added.

“We took out this march to remember the soldiers who lost their lives in the cowardly act. It was not an attack on the Army but humanity as the force is always working for peace, harmony and development here,” one of the marchers said.

There are certain elements that do not want development in the region, he added.