The government has given a free hand to the armed forces to strongly oppose any change on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and this is what the Army did at Galwan where soldiers had bravely faced the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers and “forced them to retreat”, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
Speaking on the 12th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Mr. Singh said there has been “paradigm shift” in the security architecture with respect to coastal security and the government has designed the policy in such a manner that a repeat of 26/11 was nearly impossible.
Mr. Singh said there was a “perceptional difference” between India and China on the LAC but despite that there are agreements and protocols based on which the armies of both countries carry out patrolling. “When agreed protocols are ignored then problems arise. Under any circumstances, we can’t allow PLA to do unilateral action on the LAC,” he said at the HT Summit.
Stating that the standoff to be negotiated peacefully through dialogue and negotiations are going on at the Army Commander and diplomatic level, Mr. Singh assured that the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi will “not compromise India’s boundary, honour and self-respect”.
Stating that India’s response action against terrorism is happening at 360 degrees, Mr. Singh said India is taking action within the borders while the soldiers are going “across” the border if needed and destroying terrorist camps. He said India has created diplomatic pressure, due to which Pakistan has been exposed as the “nursery of terrorism” and now the sword of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is hanging over it. In recent years, we have been successful in dismantling all types of terror infrastructure in India. Now the next step is being taken to disrupt the financial network of terrorism, Mr. Singh said.
