Pak can get India’s help to tackle terrorism: Rajnath
HITTING BACK No doubt that terrorism in J&K is sponsored by Pakistan, says home minister JAIPUR:
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said Pakistan can seek India’s help if it cannot handle the fight against terrorism alone.
He asserted there have not been any major terrorist related incident in the country in over four years of the Narendra Modiled National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
“I want to ask the Pakistani prime minister [Imran Khan] that if in Afghanistan, a fight can be carried out against terror and Taliban with the help of the US, then, Pakistan can seek help against terrorism from India if it feels that it cannot handle it alone,” he said.
Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Singh said Jammu and Kashmir was not an issue as it was an integral part of the country. “The issue is of terrorism, and Pakistan can discuss it,” Singh said.
The home minister also accused the Congress of creating a crisis of distrust in politics and claimed there was a difference in their words and deeds.
“I do not want to claim that terrorism has stopped, but no major terrorist incident has happened in the country in last four-and-ahalf years,” he said.
Terrorism is confined only to Kashmir where also situation is improving, Singh said adding Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir is being conducted successfully. “The government
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has brought Jammu and Kashmir into political process. As far as terrorism is concerned, there is no second thought that it is Pakistan sponsored,” the home minister said.
The Union minister asserted that the country and its borders are safe. Terrorism has reduced and the problem of naxalism will get eliminated from the country in the coming years, he added. Naxal related incidents have come down by 50-60% in the last four years, he said, adding it has reduced from 90 districts to only eight-nine districts and that the problem will get eliminated in next three to five years.
Hitting back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi on his statement that surgical strikes were conducted during previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime also, the home minister sought to know why it was kept a secret. “They are telling it today. Why the country was not informed earlier? If our army had shown its valour and strength then should this country not have any knowledge of this matter?” Singh asked.
“Why was the attempt made to keep the valour and strength of army hidden? Whose fear was it? I want to have an answer to this question,” he said. Responding to an alleged statement of AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi that ‘Allah will defeat the Modi (and Rahul Gandhi) ‘, Singh said, “We cannot fight with god of any religion. We do not want to fight like this as we do not believe in politics based on caste or religion. Our politics is based on justice and humanity.”
On the issue of Hinduism, he said Congress is talking about the issue which it has avoided discussing till now. “Hinduism should not be connected with any sect, caste and religion. It is a way of living life and it is a human religion,” he said.
On Saturday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj came down hard on her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi for his “googly” remark, saying it “exposed” him and that Pakistan has no respect for Sikh sentiments.
...if in Afghanistan, a fight can be carried out against terror and Taliban with the help of the US, then, it can seek help against terrorism from India if it feels that it cannot handle it alone I do not want to claim that terrorism has stopped, but no major terrorist incident has happened in the country in last four-and-ahalf years
RAJNATH SINGH, home minister