Looking to intermittent acts of violations of our borders by belligerent Pakistan , safety of our borders was paramount and ascendant and the same would be ensured at any cost, was a firm assertive statement of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Army was to fully exercise its right to retaliate if attacked notwithstanding the “restraints” of cease fire announced in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Defence Minister referred to the ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir for the holy month of Ramzan being a Government of India decision and “we abide by it” and ruled out its any further extension. She was addressing a press conference in New Delhi on the completion of four years of Narendra Modi led NDA Government at the Centre. She ruled out the role of the Ministry of Defence to assess whether the ceasefire is successful or not, but ” our duty is to guard the borders”.
It goes without saying that peace at borders is of utmost importance and any disturbance in it wrecks havoc with the peaceful and normal life adjoining the civilian areas that generally have to face the brunt not knowing how to respond excepting running helter – skelter for safety and facing dislocations besides hampering of their daily activities of livelihood. To circumvent such an eventuality, it is exigent that for any violation, the aggressor should be dealt with by such a response , the magnitude of which deters it from embarking upon any further contravention or transgression. A daily routine, as it has been reduced to by Pakistan, is now increasingly waning the patience of the people which should be gauged, in the right earnest by the Government. It appears that such hostile activities of Pakistan right from 1947 are a permanent liability for this country which needs to be effectively “squared off” using various new effective options.
It is for the Government to evolve a proper strategy on the ground. Diplomatically, undoubtedly, Indian efforts have borne fruit in that Pakistan is currently facing worst levels of international isolation which has been lamented and fully acknowledged even by the deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief and the opposition political parties there as well.The myopic misadventure of the night of June 3 on our borders by Pakistan in Pargwal and Kanachak sectors in Jammu district was responded to by our forces in adequate measure which perhaps, again led the establishment there think twice about the outcome of such acts which results in their pocketing international ridicule and notoriety, perhaps speaks for Pakistan again requesting for the ceasefire.
The issue of border peace is, many a time linked with “talks with Pakistan” by a few Valley based leaders and a lobby whose intentions, prime facie, cannot necessarily be doubted but the established fact that Pakistan was continuously fuelling terror activities against India and was responsible directly and brazenly for terror violence in Kashmir valley, cannot be underestimated in any way. The doubts in this regard, if any , were put to rest by the Defence Minister on the question of talks with Pakistan by quoting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as saying, “Terror and talks cannot go together”. The self “designated” peculiar lobby as well as the peaceniks must, therefore, see reason and find it quite convenient, now, to endorse the Government line and not go beyond it in the sense that amounts to exonerating Pakistan from its full involvement in a proxy war being waged against this country.
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