LUCKNOW, Jan 21: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said India has shown it can attack its enemies not only on its soil, but also in a foreign territory, if need be.
Singh’s remarks come almost a month after a group of five Army commandos crossed the Line of Control in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir and killed three Pakistani soldiers and smashed a post, in a swift and daring operation.
The operation was seen as avenging the killing of four Indian Army personnel by a Border Action Team of the Pakistan army in Keri sector of Rajouri district.
“A few months ago, Pakistan, in an act of cowardice, attacked and martyred 17 of our jawans. Prime Minister Narendra Modi consulted all of us on this serious issue, and the Indian Army entered the Pakistani area and killed the militants,” Singh said at a public meeting here.
“India’s image in the world has become that of a strong nation and we have given a strong message to the world that we can attack our enemies not only on our soil, but also in their territory. India has developed this power,” he said.
Singh said India wants to maintain a friendly relationship with Pakistan.
“But Pakistan is not mending its ways,” Singh said.
“I want to assure you that our Government will not let India to bow its head,” he said.
The Home Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country’s economy is moving ahead at a fast pace.
“..And now even the global economists and experts accept this,” he said, adding that India’s prestige in the global arena is “rising rapidly”.
Singh was addressing a meeting of ‘Bharatiya Railway Maal Godaam Shramik Sangh’ here.
“The ‘Railway Maal Godaam Shramik’ have, for the past few generations, been sweating and giving the Railways a good income. However, despite this, they do not have any identification card, nor do they get any treatment facility in any of the Railway hospitals,” said Rajnath.
He said he would take up the issues and problems of the labourers in the railway sector with their representatives and the Railway Minister.
Meanwhile, security agencies’ personnel, including those from special commando forces such as the NSG, should be trained in tackling the emerging “fourth dimension” of threats of cyber attacks, Home Minister Rajanth Singh said.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the 8th All India Police Commando Competition at the National Security Guard garrison in Gurgaon near Delhi, Singh said hacking websites and data leaks also indirectly imperil the national security.
A fourth dimension has been added to the threats national security faced till now and commandos should also train to stamp out threats from the cyber space, apart from conventional threats emanating on the land, emerging from the seas and in the air, he said.
The Minister said the “iron fists of the commandos of various forces and the NSG can sniff out any evil eye casting aspersions on our soil.”
“A commando is not only physically agile and deft in firing weapons but it is the composed mindset to make threat assessment and application of one’s resources to overcome the threat that gets into making a commando out of a soldier,” he said.
He lauded the NSG and said the nation was proud of them and they have proved their mettle during the Parliament attack of 2001, Akshardham temple attack the next year, and the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the recent Pathankot terrorist attack.
The NSG was declared the overall winners of the competition, in which a total of 25 teams from the Central Paramilitary and State Police forces participated over the past five days. (PTI)
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