PATIALA: The State Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association ( SEWA ) has written to the Union government seeking withdrawal of cases registered against soldiers engaged in dealing with stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir.SEWA president Colonel Kuldip Singh Grewal (retired) said during last three years, as many as 256 soldiers lost their lives while fighting insurgents in the J&K. Intriguingly, the Army was also being asked to deal with stone pelters, a task for which they were not trained, he said, adding that soldiers were trained to incapacitate the enemy and not fire in the air to control protesting mobs. It was the duty of the state police to deal with the stone pelters. He said when Army columns are confronted by the violent mob they react in self defence and end up with FIRs registered against them.The association, which also held a protest meeting in Patiala against the manner in which Army men were being treated in J&K, said while cases had been registered against the Army personnel, who reacted in self defence, thousands of stone pelters were given amnesty.The ex-army men said whenever Army gained upper hand in the valley the so-called human rights’ activists tried to demoralize the forces by talking of truce. This gave terrorists enough time to regroup and launch another attack on the Indian Army. They said situations were deliberately being created in which the Army was being portrayed as a weak force.The association of the former Army men demanded that the Union government should immediately get all cases registered against the soldiers withdrawn to ensure that the image of the Army was maintained so that it can bring the situation in J&K under control.

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