Armed forces will keep giving befitting reply till Pak stops infiltration: Rajnath

LEH: The Indian Army had given a befitting reply to Pakistan on attempts to infiltrate and such actions would continue if the neighbouring country did not stop infiltration, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday.

He said this during a function held here for the inauguration of the 1,400-foot-long Col Chewang Rinchen bridge over the Shyok river in eastern Ladakh, the highest permanent bridge in the country.

In his address, Singh also asserted that after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, the Ladakh region would only "draw friends" now and "leave no scope for enemies". "However, our neighbour Pakistan .... Our armed forces have never been on the offensive on the Pakistani side. We have never done the first firing. "But attempts have been made from the other side to destabilise, weaken and compromise the integrity of India," he said. The Indian armed forces had given a "befitting reply" to them, he added.

The assertion by Singh came a day after Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said six to 10 Pakistan Army personnel were killed and three terror camps destroyed in a retaliatory action by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC) opposite the Tangdhar and Keran sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. Sources said the top brass of the Army briefed Singh on Sunday's operation during his visit to Ladakh on Monday. "If they (Pakistan) do not stop infiltration, our armed forces will keep giving befitting replies until they stop such activities," Singh said.