Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday blamed the Modi government for transforming the country’s borders into a ‘war zone’, dismissing claims made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah that the country’s borders were ‘more secure’ now than earlier.
The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief was reacting to Mr Shah’s statement at the Punjabi Suba celebrations in Amritsar on Tuesday. Mr Shah had said the biggest achievement of the Modi government was that it had secured the boundary of the country, whereas under the UPA rule, “the situation was that anyone could come, do chhedkhani (tampering) with the boundary of the country, cause great insult.”
There could not be a bigger frivolity than this, said Captain Amarinder, adding that Mr Shah seemed to be totally and comfortably oblivious of the fact that the border areas were being subjected to unwarranted and unprovoked assault every day, leaving both soldiers and civilians dead or injured. The entire Jammu border area had become a war zone, thanks to the thoughtless and weak defence policies of the Modi government, said Captain Singh.
Amarinder, citing media reports to point out that the situation along the LoC had deteriorated majorly since the September 18 Uri terror attack and the subsequent surgical strikes by the Indian Army inside PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir).
All that the Modi government, through Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, was interested in was to take political mileage from the surgical strikes, said the PPCC president, adding that the ground reality was in stark contrast to the claims of the BJP chief. The escalation of tension at the border was a clear sign that the situation was fast getting out of control and needed to be addressed immediately, before it snowballed into a full-fledged war, he said.
Captain Amarinder said that New Delhi needed to engage diplomatically with Islamabad to resolve the border issues and restore peace, in the interest of the nation’s security and the safety of its people. Residents of border villages were being subjected to cross-border shelling and violence, making them hapless victims of the Modi government’s failure to protect and safeguard them, he added.
With ceasefire violations by Pakistan at the LoC on an increase, the situation begets urgent and collective intervention by all the political parties of the country, irrespective of their ideologies, according to Captain Amarinder. He pointed out that there had been as many as 60 instances of truce violation by Pakistan since the surgical strikes just over a month ago.
