New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Indian army on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with the Pakistani military over the killing of its two soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir, calling it a “dastardly and inhuman” act which merited “unequivocal condemnation and response”.

The incident along the Line of Control (LoC) on the Indian side also set off a spat between parties across the political divide.

India’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and expressed “grave concern” over the killing of two soldiers in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

“The DGMO of the Indian army conveyed that such a dastardly and inhuman act is beyond any norms of civility and merits unequivocal condemnation and response,” the army said in a statement.

The Indian army has already vowed an “appropriate” response to the “despicable act”.

A day after the incident triggered outrage, Congress mounted a scathing assault on the Modi government, asking it to “take off the bangles” and avenge the killing of Indian security personnel. Bangles are considered a sign of femininity.

“It is unfortunate that prime minister and the government do not have any policy on national security. We urge this government to take off its bangles and do something,” Sibal said in New Delhi.

He also attacked the government over the additional charge of defence ministry to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying there cannot be an effective defence policy without a full-time minister.

After India’s DGMO’s tough talk about a “response” to the brazen slaughter of two soldiers, union minister M Venkaiah Naidu called Pakistan a “rogue” state and spoke of reprisal.

Responding to the opposition’s comments questioning the political will of the government to take military action against Pakistan, Naidu said, “There is will, there is kill.”

“We are very firm, we will do whatever is possible, and the government is already at it, and you will hear about it,” Naidu said in Bengaluru.

“It is not right to make public statements on what the response should be. The defence minister has made a statement. You will get the information with confirmation on what the result will be,” he said.

Senior Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony said while just one such incident was reported under the party-led UPA dispensations, three such incidents occurred with Modi at the helm.

Amid the political wrangling, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vora met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed the situation obtaining in the restive valley as also along the LoC.

The Election Commission has cancelled the May 25 Anantnag Lok Sabha bypoll in view of the “scary” situation in the areas.

State government officials had informed the EC that the situation in South Kashmir “is not good, the overall situation is scary and not very conducive [to the holding of polls],” the EC said in a 10-page order issued late on Monday.

The three-member commission cited various rules of the Representation of the People Act and the Constitution while rescinding its earlier order for holding polls to the Lok Sabha seat that fell vacant last July after Mehbooba Mufti took over as the chief minister of the state.

The by-election to the Anantnag seat will be held when the situation becomes conducive to a free, fair and peaceful election, it said.

The state government had informed the commission that the election needed to be postponed since security agencies wanted to resume operations to counter militancy related activities, it said.

The government had also said these operations would be necessary in the coming months to restore public order and enable elections to be held in a free and fair atmosphere after October this year, the EC said.

The bypoll was earlier scheduled for April 12 but was deferred because of large-scale violence on April 9 when polling was held for the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Eight people were killed and the voter turnout was a record low of a little over seven per cent.

Following the violence, the EC postponed the Anantnag bypoll to May 25. The state election machinery also demanded that 687 companies (68,700 personnel) be deployed for the bypoll.