Rajnath warns Pak, says India fully capable of give firm response to cross border terrorism

Jan 28, 2020

New Delhi: Asserting that India was fully capable of giving a firm response to cross-border terrorism, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said strikes against terrorist attacks in 2016 and 2019 have demonstrated the nation’s capability.

Singh reiterated the government’s stand that talks and terror cannot go together and asked Pakistan to take demonstrable steps against terror groups responsible for launching various attacks on India from its soil.

Addressing the inaugural session of 12th South Asian Conference at Institute for Defence Studies, he also called upon the member countries of the regional outfit South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) to be united in efforts to defeat terrorism.

He said India was engaged in conversations with its neighbour in order to develop joint approaches for regional peace and security, and with the exception of Pakistan, the SAARC countries have adhered to the principles of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and not supporting cross-border terrorism.

Without naming any country, the Defence Minister said that full potential of SAARC has not been realized due to the behaviour and policies of a single country and cited how the SAARC motor vehicles agreement was stalled at the last Kathmandu session in 2015. He further said that the same country has preferred to use terrorism as a state policy towards India, rather than peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue.

He said the use of terror as an instrument of its foreign and security policy has promoted radicalism and terrorism in the region and posed critical challenges to security of all states, and cited the Easter Bomb attacks in April 2019 that were the latest instance of how dangerous such a policy has been for the region and beyond.

Explaining the essential contours of the Government’s Neighbourhood First Policy or NFP, he said that the mutually beneficial and broad-based approach, comprising both the components of development and security, was inclusive and sensitive to the priorities of the neighbouring countries. He said that the Government has recognised the neighbourhood as the most important foreign policy priority.

Stressing the need of the regional unity and cooperation, Singh said that India has always harboured the cultural ethos of brotherhood and the traditional knowledge through Vedas, Upanishad has and Puranas have taught the country the strength of unity. He added that the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a firm belief in the principle of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas and it will bring win-win situation for all.

Informing that the Government has committed about 13.14 billion US dollars in credit-lines and about 4 billion US dollars in assistance in the neighbourhood over the last decade, he said that India was willing to play a leading and critical role at the development front under NFP, by making resources available to the neighbours to build necessary infrastructure that will enable connectivity and easy flow of region-wide movement of goods, services, people and ideas.

Stating that South Asia was at a critical juncture of history where a world of opportunity was beckoning, Singh said that regional prosperity should not be held hostage to the interests of select states who are obstructing all efforts aimed at regional cooperation. He said that intra-regional trade has so far been abysmally low, and underlined the need to transcend the limitations.

—India News Stream