Deterrent action will continue at Pakistan border: Sitharaman

As the government marks the second anniversary of the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that deterrent action against Pakistan "will continue at the border" even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh has claimed that BSF had taken strong action against Pakistani forces at the border "two-three days ago" to avenge the killing of a BSF jawan.

"There are intrusions on the border and we are also eliminating a lot of them at the border itself, not allowing them to come in. I believe an action of this kind will deter Pakistan from training and sending in terrorists," she told the media here.

"Our action will continue at the border irrespective of whether they have learnt a lesson or not," she added.

On Friday, Rajnath Singh, while speaking at a public function in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, had said that "something big" had happened at the border recently to avenge the death of the Border Security Force (BSF) Head Constable Narender Singh who was killed by the Pakistani forces on September 18 in Ramgarh sector along the International Border.

"Something has happened and will also happen in future. I had told my BSF jawans that Pakistan is a neighbour and so you shall not fire the first bullet. But if a bullet comes from their side, then you shall not count how many bullets you fire," Rajnath Singh said.

BSF Director General K.K. Sharma, while refusing to giving details of what punitive action the BSF took, said that the force took action at the Line of Control (LoC) to avenge the killing.

"If something happens on the IB (International Border), it is not necessary that we immediately take action at the IB itself. We have taken action on the LoC side to avenge the death of our brave soldier.

India is observing the second anniversary of the cross-LoC military strikes, commonly called the "surgical strikes", as 'Parakram Parv', or the celebration of valour.

--IANS

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