‘We will protect our borders and cross if needed’
Rajnath Singh said the government was serious about finding a solution to the Kashmir problem
NEW DELHI: Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday that the government will not only protect India’s borders from inside the country, but was ready to go beyond.
Singh’s remarks at the News18 Rising India summit came in the backdrop of rising friction between India and Pakistan, which have accused each other of harassing their diplomats.
“When it comes to the security of our borders, we will make all efforts to protect the country. We will protect our borders from inside, and if the need arises, we will also protect our borders from outside the country,” he said.
Singh said he was making the statement based on the ability of India’s paramilitary and armed forces.
India would prefer good relations with its neighbours but Pakistan seems more interested in supporting the Haqqani network, an Afghan guerrilla group, and giving political legitimacy to Hafiz Saeed, a United Nations designated terrorist, he said.
Singh mentioned steps taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to combat terrorism.
“Terrorism is not only India’s issue but a global problem,” he said.
“Earlier prime ministers might have tried, but Prime Minister Modi was able to bring everyone on board on the issue of terrorism. Earlier there were some (countries) which wouldn’t speak about terrorism, but today the strongest country in the world, the United States, is at least condemning Pakistan. They have stopped (financial) assistance to Pakistan,” Singh said.
The minister also spoke at length on Kashmir and said the government was serious about finding a solution to the problem. He noted that a special representative on Kashmir, former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma, has been chosen by the government and his mandate is to speak to everyone in Kashmir.
But no “power in the world can take Kashmir away” from India, Singh said.
“Kashmir was ours, is ours and will be ours,” he said.
The minister said he had directed Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to offer amnesty to stone pelters targeting security forces in Kashmir, especially the children.
”Children of Kashmir are also ours. Hence, I asked the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister to remove all stone-pelting cases against those children. They must have been brainwashed,” he added.
Responding to a question about BJP’s defeat in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-poll in Uttar Pradesh, Singh responded jokingly.
“Now we have come to know such things also happen. They will not happen again,” he said.
Gorakhpur was the parliamentary constituency of Yogi Adityanath, who vacated the seat after becoming chief minister of Uttar Pradesh last year.