‘We have no extra territorial ambitions’
*Pak exposed, isolated on all world forums
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 30: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said today that India wants peace and friendly relations with all countries and has no “extra territorial ambitions” or intentions to interfere in affairs of others but warned that anyone trying to touch our nation will not be spared.
“We are always alert towards our territorial integrity, sovereignty and security of the people. Therefore, when any country runs training camps (for the militants) on its territory or conspired to target India, he is given befitting reply,” Rajnath said in a series of tweets after his address at 117th Course Passing Out Parade at National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune.
Though the Defence Minister didn’t name any country, the reference was obvious towards Pakistan as it continued to run camps and train militants in its territory and then attempts to push them into Jammu and Kashmir. However, Pakistan’s attempts to infiltrate trained militants into J&K from the Line of Control (LoC) as well as International Border (IB) have been effectively thwarted by the Indian troops.
He said India has always been a firm believer in pursuing peaceful and friendly relations with all countries. “We don’t have any territorial ambitions, nor do we interfere in the affairs of any other country. However, we never hesitate from taking firm action to protect our nation,” he asserted.
Rajnath said India has fought prolonged war against terrorism and now our neighbour (a reference towards Pakistan) has also fully realized that be it 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1991conventional or limited wars, it can’t win at any cost.
“We needn’t to tell how big the terror threat has become for the world. We have seen 9/11 and 26/11. No civilized nation has any sympathy for the terrorism today,” he said.
Rajnath said Pakistan has completely been exposed and isolated in all world forums on the issues of terrorism and gave major credit for this to diplomatic capability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“All of you might have observed that on the one side our Government under the leadership of Narendra Modi has strengthened country’s defence and on the other it has also given major focus towards the defence diplomacy,” he added.
The Defence Minister declared that whenever the need arises, the Indian Army not only takes action within the boundaries of the country but has also crosses border to act (against the militants and their camps).
“We have done this three-four times during the last five and a half years. In 2016, we did surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and in 2019, we destroyed the terrorist camps in Balakote (inside Pakistan),” he said.
Asserting that Pakistan has adopted the path of proxy war on the name of terrorism, Rajnath declared with full confidence that the neighbour will be defeated in the proxy war and will get nothing else.
He credited Army, Central Armed Police Forces and Police Force for thwarting unholy designs (of the terrorists) despite protracted war.
The Defence Minister said while fighting terrorism which spread in 20th century, “we have to be prepared for 21st century challenges like cyber-threats and “hatred ideology”.
Lauding the professionalism of Indian Army, he said not only India but entire world has realized that whenever there has been humanitarian crisis or threat to global peace and stability, the Indian troops have displayed extraordinary professionalism.
Addressing the cadres, he said, “When you become a part of the Indian defence system, you also resolve to safeguard the Indian Constitution”.
Singh assured that apart from working on deployment, the Government is also working on defence development and diplomacy.
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