Nagrota attack: Mulayam concerned over killing of soldiers

LUCKNOW: Expressing concern over killing of soldiers on the border, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today said they should be given freehand.

On Tuesday, Jammu was rocked by two terror attacks in which seven army personnel, including two Major-rank officers, were killed and eight other security-men, including a BSF DIG, were injured, before six heavily-armed terrorists were eliminated in separate fierce encounters.

"The soldiers are being killed in sleep. When will they get freehand? They (referring to Pakistan) are giving threat of atomic bomb. If they use it, two-three cities will get destroyed. Hindustan also has many atomic bombs and when we use, their entire country will be finished," he said.

"We don't want war," the former Defence Minister said at a function to flag off the inaugural run of Lucknow Metro.

"In war, both sides are defeated and no one wins. We take up this issue of the country in the House (Lok Sabha). We are one on the issue of national security. SP is a humanitarian party and does not advocate war," he said at a function

For security of borders, UP plays a lead role as maximum soldiers are from the state, he said.

He also mentioned Bofors guns, which played a key role in Kargil operation in 1999, and said they were good.

Mulayam said the SP government will "never tolerate" riots as it did not believe in discrimination on basis of caste, religion, language etc."