We'll go inside PoK if needed: Malik, Rajnath Singh
The Army claimed it used artillery guns to target terrorist camps in PoK, from where the terrorists were being pushed into J&K.
Srinagar/Leh: Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik warned Pakistan on Monday of stern military action if it continued to push in terrorists into J&K to foment trouble in the state. “We will dismantle all the terrorist camps. If they don’t desist we will go inside (Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir),” he said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organised by the police to pay tribute to its martyrs at Zewan on the outskirts of Srinagar.
The governor also said: “War is bad and Pakistan should behave. If they don’t mend their ways, what will happen in future will be worse than what happened yesterday.”
In a message to the people of the Valley, particularly its youth, Mr Malik said: “There will be a new Kashmir from November 1... participate in it and take it ahead. I would like to ask the boys here what did they achieve, so far (through confrontation)?”
Defence minister Rajnath Singh also talked tough on Monday, saying the armed forces will keep giving a befitting reply to Pakistan until it stops infiltration. The assertions by Mr Singh and Mr Malik came a day after Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said that six to 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed and three terror camps destroyed in retaliatory action by the Indian Army across the LoC opposite the Tangdhar and Keran sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Singh, speaking at a function in Leh for the inauguration of the 1,400-ft Col Chewang Rinchen bridge in eastern Ladakh over the Shyok River, the highest-altitude permanent bridge in the country, said that after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, the Ladakh region will now only “draw friends” and “leave no scope for enemies”.
“However, our neighbour Pakistan... Our armed forces have never been offensive on the Pakistani side. We have never done the first firing,” he said. “But, by supporting terror activities, attempts have been made from the other side to destabilise, weaken and compromise the integrity of India,” he added.
On Sunday, the Army had said it destroyed three terrorist camps and damaged a fourth one just across the LoC in PoK’s Neelam valley, killing six to 10 Pakistani soldiers. The Army claimed it used artillery guns to target terrorist camps in PoK, from where the terrorists were being pushed into J&K.