Pak troops violate truce as Rajnath visits forward posts in Rajouri district
Union home Rajnath Singh on Monday warned Islamabad to mend its ways and stop firing at Indian posts and villages along the 744-km long Line of Control (LoC) and 198-km long International Border in Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh’s warning followed the latest ceasefire violation by the Pakistani army in Shahpur Kerni sector of adjoining Poonch district on Monday.
Defence spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said, “Indian army is retaliating strongly and effectively to the provocation. The intermittent firing is presently on.”
Meanwhile, home minister visited the BSF campus at Nowshera and took stock of the operational preparedness at LoC and International Boundary in the prevailing security scenario.
Addressing displaced border villagers at a relief camp in Nowshera town in Rajouri district, Singh said that he had told the BSF DG in 2014 that “we shouldn’t fire first but if they (Pakistani forces) fire even a single bullet, then there should be no count of bullets from our side.” “The situation has improved from what it was in 2014 after security forces were authorised to retaliate strongly. It will improve further in the days to come. Pakistan has no option than to stop ceasefire violations today or tomorrow. I assure all of you that situation will improve in the coming days,” he said.
“India today is not a weak country anymore. It is a changed country under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. The world today has started acknowledging India as a force to reckon with. India’s image has changed across the world today,” he asserted.
Nowshera is the place from where the Indian Army had launched its surgical strikes on September 29 last year on terror launch pads in Bhimber Gali area across the LoC.
But since May this year, over 4,000 people have been displaced from several villages along the LoC in Nowshera sector following several ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops. These displaced people have been living in six relief camps. The home minister also praised the border villagers and described them as “strategic assets” of the country.
“Though no amount of money can ever compensate a human life, it was our government that raised the ex gratia to the next of kin of those who die in Pakistani firing from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh,” he said, and added, “Those with more than 50% disability are also entitled for ₹5 lakh compensation.
DEPORT ROHINGYAS, SAYS PANTHERS PARTY
Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) on Monday asked Rajnath to pass an order for a time-bound deportation of illegally settled Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims from the Jammu region.
“The home minister should direct the state government to evict Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims, who have been living in various districts of Jammu province illegally, in a timebound manner,” said Harsh Dev Singh, chairperson JKNPP, who led a group of party workers who staged a demonstration also set ablaze an effigy of the BJP.