New Delhi, Oct 29:India has clearly told Pakistan that action against
terrorism will be taken not only on this side of the border but also
on their side if needed, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on
Friday.
He was speaking at the valedictory session of a national conference on
‘Delivering Democracy: Reviewing 2 Decades of Narendra Modi as Head of
Govt’.
“Modi ji has redesigned and redefined India’s attitude against
terrorism. Remember, what a soft attitude was maintained against
terrorists during earlier governments,” Singh told the gathering. If
there were terrorist incidents, there was talk of giving “safe
passage” to them, there used to be talk of playing or not playing
matches against Pakistan, he said.”Now the situation has changed. Our
government has said clearly that terrorism and talks cannot go hand in
hand. For the last few years, we have stopped having any talks with
Pakistan,” the minister mentioned.”Now we don’t talk about playing or
not playing (cricket) matches. Instead, we have stated it clearly that
action against terrorism will be taken — on this side of the border
as well as on the other side of the border if needed,” he added.
“People used to say that if Article 370 is abolished, then the entire
Kashmir will burn…All in all, Jammu and Kashmir is peaceful except
for a few incidents,” he said at an event here. Rajouri and Poonch in
Jammu region have witnessed a rise in infiltration attempts since June
this year, resulting in the killing of nine terrorists in separate
encounters. The Centre had on August 5, 2019 abolished Article 370 of
the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh said, “It is true that our enemy forces are fidgety. I can say
with surety that terrorists’ confidence has been broken in Kashmir
Valley.
“Since October 11, the Indian Army is conducting a massive search
operation to track down hiding terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s twin
border districts of Poonch and Rajouri. Pakistan was not able to
gather any support on the topic of Kashmir even after trying a lot,
the minister said.
Discussing Modi’s commitment to development, Singh said for a long
time, promotion of trade, industry and business was avoided in this
country.”It was believed that if you stand with business and industry
then your social commitment is weak. Modiji gave a tough challenge to
this misconception. He recognised and respected industry and
entrepreneurs in nation building, supported and promoted them also,”
Singh said. Singh shared details of his long association with Modi
when they were chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat
respectively, and said Modi’s amazing decision-making ability and
imaginative power impressed him the most. Modi served as chief
minister of Gujarat from 2001 till his election as prime minister in
2014.
