Jawan kills 3, attempts suicide

JAMMU: A soldier shot dead three colleagues and wounded three others before attempting to kill himself in J&K on Saturday, army officials said.

The soldier sprayed his colleagues with gunshots at an army camp in Narain in the Rajouri district of J&K, said defence spokesman Col RK Chibber. The soldier, who was not identified, was critically wounded when he later tried to shoot himself. The reason for the pre-dawn shooting was not immediately clear.

This is an addition to the list of such incidents during the year. On March 5, a soldier of the Rajput Regiment killed four colleagues before shooting himself dead at Miran Sahib Camp in Jammu. On June 16, a lady officer Lt Sushmita Chakraborty committed suicide by shooting herself at Udhampur.  All these have been attributed to high stress levels associated with fighting Islamic militants in J&K. The following measures have now been initiated by the army to counter stress:

• A buddy system wherein a soldier is always with a colleague friend with whom he can share everything.
• If a soldier feels his buddy is stressed out, he informs officers who try to redress his grievances.
• Welfare meetings in each unit, where soldiers are asked about their problems.