Pak cried to world after air strike: PM
GREATER NOIDA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday again lashed out at those seeking proof of India’s air strike in Balakot in Pakistan and slammed the previous Congress government for its handling of terror attacks like the one in Mumbai in November 2008.
“Had the previous government shown some courage and taught terrorists a lesson in their own language [after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai], terrorism would not have emerged as the menace it is now,” he told a rally of about 25,000 people in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi, after inaugurating several projects.
Modi said that after the February 26 pre-dawn air strike in Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, India was quietly monitoring the situation and it was Pakistan which started “crying” around 5.00 am that “Modi has hit us”.
“They were thinking they can keep wounding India, wage attacks, proxy wars and India would not respond. The reason the enemies of India could think this was because of the attitude of the ‘remote-controlled’ government prior to 2014. That is why the enemies could nurture this attitude,” he said.
Modi said that today India works on ‘nayi reeti, nayi neeti’ (new methods, new policies), asserting that after the terror attack in Uri (Jammu and Kashmir) in 2016, the country for the first time taught terrorists a lesson “in a language they understand” with surgical strikes across the Line of Control.
“Is it okay for you to have a government that does nothing? A chowkidar (referring to himself) who sleeps?” he asked.
He continued, “After Uri, proof was sought. Our soldiers did something that has never happened before. Our soldiers struck terrorists inside their home. Terrorists and their guardians had not expected such action (this time).
“They thought if India once did a surgical strike, they would again do something similar. So they had deployed forces along the border, but we went by air this time.”
He said the country can never forget the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. India should have responded then and the whole world would have supported the country, he said.
“But that required courage. All evidence was against terrorist handlers in Pakistan which proved them guilty. But how did India respond? There are reports that our forces were ready to avenge the terror attack even then, but Delhi remained cold. The forces were not allowed to take any action,” he claimed.
Stating that there were repeated terror attacks in India after 2008 whose links were found across the border, Modi questioned the previous government’s response. They did not change their policy, they only changed their home ministers, he said.
Modi said that post-Balakot, some politicians were making controversial statements which elicited applause in Pakistan and urged the people to decide if they want to trust them or not.