If we don't get Hemraj's head, let's get 10 of theirs, says Sushma Swaraj

"The incident that has happened, we should take revenge... If we don't get this (Hemraj's) head, we should get ten of theirs (Pakistan army's)," Ms Swaraj said. She, along with party president Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh, was visiting Hemraj's family in Shernagar, Uttar Pradesh. The martyr's wife and mother were on an indefinite fast demanding that his head be found and returned.

Hours after Ms Swaraj made the statement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called her and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and discussed the tension along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, sources told NDTV. Ms Swaraj and Mr Jaitley, leaders of opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, will be briefed by National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon tomorrow on the situation at the LoC and the government's plans, sources added.

During the conversation, the PM assured the two BJP leaders that the Opposition would be kept in loop over the situation, according to Press Trust of India. Dr Singh, reportedly, assured the two leaders that nothing is being done which could not be communicated to the Leaders of Opposition in Parliament.

At 1 pm today, the Indian and Pakistan armies held a flag meeting at Chakan da Bagh in Poonch district along the LoC in Kashmir. At the meeting of brigade commanders, the Indian Army said that Pakistani troops crossed into Indian territory on January 8 to ambush Indian soldiers, killing two, whose bodies they then mutilated, decapitating one of them.

India warned Pakistan at the meeting that such a "dastardly and cowardly act" was unacceptable and that it was a premeditated attempt to undermine the cease-fire agreement signed between the two countries in 2003. It said that a repetition of such acts would not be tolerated and that it if did, the Indian Army reserves the right to retaliate at a point and time of its choosing.

The 35-minute meeting was the first on-ground contact between the two Armies since tension built up at the border last week; Pakistan agreed to the meeting after four days of India asking for one.

The leader of the Pakistani delegation, the Indian Army said, was also asked to acknowledge responsibility for the attack and mutilation; he reportedly denied the involvement of the Pakistani Army. The Pakistani side reiterated that its troops had not initiated ceasefire violation.

Army Chief Bikram Singh, referring to Lance Naik Hemraj Singh's beheading, today said: "What the Pakistani side did was unpardonable and gruesome." He also said that there were no operations from the Indian side on January 6 as claimed by Pakistan.

General Singh also said that the possibility that Pakistan uses terrorists can't be ruled out. "Home Minister made a statement, that must have been based on intelligence inputs available... we have known them to use that," said the Army Chief. He added, "We will retaliate if provoked and fired upon, and let me tell you we have fired back."

Both sides have accused the other's troops of violating the ceasefire and crossing the LoC to kill jawans. The tension began on January 6 when the Pakistani army accused India of killing one of its soldiers and wounding another in a cross-border attack. India said its troops had opened fire following a Pakistani mortar attack, but denied they crossed the border. Four soldiers have been killed in the last one week. It marks a peak in hostility since 2003, when the ceasefire was agreed upon.