Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 31: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today that India was ready to help Pakistan to tackle terrorism if the neighbouring country is unable to do so and seeks our help even as he declared that the Centre Government would go ahead with providing all facilities to the border dwellers including construction of bunkers notwithstanding the agreement reached between Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries for ceasefire on the borders.
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“Pakistan should end terrorism emanating from its soil. Pakistan is our neighbour. We want friendly ties with our neighbours. If Pakistan can’t tackle terrorism, it should seek our help. We are ready to assist,’’ he said.
He was responding to a question on talks with Pakistan and terrorism being fanned by the neighbour in Jammu and Kashmir at a press conference in Bhopal on completion of four years of Narendra Modi Government.
Asserting that the border dwellers in Jammu and Kashmir were not “ordinary citizens’’ but “strategic assets’’ for the country, Rajnath said despite ceasefire announced by the DGMOs of India and Pakistan on the borders, the Home Ministry would continue to take all steps for protection of the border people including construction of bunkers for them.
“We have ordered construction of 1400 bunkers for the border people, the work on which will start immediately,” Rajnath said, adding that other welfare measures will also be taken for the people living in forward areas.
It may be mentioned here that DGMOs of India and Pakistan had established hotline contact on May 29 in which they had agreed to stick to 2003 ceasefire agreement on the borders giving much relief to the people living along Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB), who had been bearing brunt of ceasefire violations of Pakistan army and Rangers.
Responding to a question on Kashmiri Pandits, Rajnath Singh said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has assured identification of land shortly for rehabilitation of the migrants in the Kashmir valley. Earlier also, he added, the matter had been taken up with former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and process for identification of land had started but unfortunately, he didn’t survive.
“Now we have taken up the matter with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. She has assured us that she would identify the land and work on construction for rehabilitations of Kashmiri Pandits would start shortly,’’ he said, adding the Centre Government has kept budgetary provisions for providing all facilities to the Kashmiri Pandit migrants.
On cyber crime, Rajnath Singh said a separate division has been set up in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to exclusively deal with the case of cyber crime. There has been significant improvement in the cases of cyber crime, he added.
The Union Home Minister reiterated that no major terrorist attack has been reported in any part of the country beyond Pathankot during past four years, which was quite a significant achievement of the NDA Government.
PTI adds: Rajnath said he was not aware of any letter to his Ministry from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NAB) regarding alleged kickbacks in the procurement of spare parts for transport aircraft An-32 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
He was replying to a question on the media report which claimed that Ukraine’s NAB had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) claiming that kickbacks to the tune of Rs 17.55 crore were paid to some Indian defence officials for the spares deal.
“Aisa koi mamla mere saamne abhi tak nahi aya hai (no such matter has come to me so far),” Singh said.
The media report said the Ukrainian agency had sought legal assistance from the MHA for its probe into the alleged kickbacks.
Singh said the Government has succeeded in curbing Maoist activities to a large extent. “In India, Maoists are now confined to 90 districts only. Earlier, 126 districts were affected by them,” he said.
“Naxal terror is mainly restricted to 10 to 11 districts in the country,” Singh said adding that in other Maoist-hit districts, cases of extortion and setting transformers on fire were reported.
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