There have been as few as 19 ceasefire violations from the Pakistani side since the NDA government came to power — between May 26 and July 17 — and the Indian side responded appropriately in each case, according to Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. Replying to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour, Mr. Jaitley said there had been 56 violations between January and July 17 this year. Last year, there were 199 violations at the Line of Control (LoC) and 148 at the International Border.
“Amongst all the years from 2004 downwards, the number of violations was [highest] in 2013. This year, compared to 2013, they are slightly less,” he informed members.
“Our heads have not bowed. The government will not let our heads bow,” he said.
Mr. Jaitley was responding to Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s remark that the NDA government had, in spite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi having repeatedly accused the UPA government of being “weak”, “bowed” to recurrent ceasefire violations on Pakistan’s part.Asking Mr. Azad not to politicise the subject, Mr. Jaitley said when the NDA left government in 2004, there was only one violation that year and in 2013, when the UPA was in power, there had been 347 ceasefire violations.
Responding to Shiv Sena member Rajkumar Dhoot, Mr. Jaitley said the government’s policy had been to take action proportionate to the extent of ceasefire violation.
“Where retaliations are required, retaliations are done; where preventive actions are required, preventive actions are done; where the tensions can be diluted by dialogue between the DGMOs, which is done on a weekly basis, it is done on that basis. Whatever action is taken, further follow-up action, on the basis of whatever our diplomatic responses are, is also to be measured in terms of the extent of the provocations which take place at the Line of Control.”
