Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 | Last Update : 05:16 AM IST
Can cross LoC again to protect country: Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh says despite India wanting friendly relations, Pak not keen for it, they instead give ‘political legitimacy’ to Hafiz Saeed.
New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that no power in the world can take Kashmir away from India and if needed Indian security forces can once again cross the Line of Control (LoC) to protect the country’s security interests.
While speaking at an event here, the home minister also launched an attack on Pakistan for giving political recognition to the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Hafiz Saeed.
“Kashmir is, was and will be ours always. No one can take it from us,” Mr Singh said as a warning to Pakistan.
Mr Singh said that the NDA government is keen to find a solution to all outstanding problems in the state for which an interlocutor has been appointed to initiate dialogue with anyone willing to help resolve the issue.
The home minister said that India wants friendly relations with Pakistan but the latter is not keen as it recently gave “political legitimacy” to Hafiz Saeed, who also happens to be a UN-designated terrorist, by allowing him to float his own political outfit.
“Now the likes of Hafiz Saeed will be able to contest elections and have representation in Pakistan Parliament. What is also shocking is that they are protecting Haqqani network which is responsible for killing of innocent people,” Mr Singh added.
The home minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in highlighting the issue of terror at international fora and now even the US is criticising Pakistan.
The home minister said that efforts to radicalise the Kashmiri youth will fail and that he had informed chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to withdraw all cases against first-time stone pelters. The state government has so far withdrawn cases against 9,730 such offenders. “These youngsters are misguided by someone else and deserve a second chance,” he said
On the issue of dealing with violence in the Northeast and Naxals, Mr Singh said development and no just strong action by the security forces is the key in handling the Maoist problem. He claimed that in the last four years the government has been successful in bringing down Naxal violence and reducing clashes in the Northeast by almost 75 per cent.
