Rajnath to raise issue of Pak support to terror in SAARC meet

Pakistan's sustained support to cross-border terrorism will be raised by Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his two-day visit to Islamabad to attend the SAARC ministerial conference beginning August 3.
Singh, who will attend the SAARC Home Interior/Home Ministers' conference, is expected to bluntly ask Pakistan to stop sponsoring acts of terror in India, official sources said.
This will be the first visit to Pakistan by any senior Indian leader after the Pathankot attack on January 2, which created tension between the two countries.
The Home Minister may provide documentary proof of the involvement of Pakistan's state and non-state actors in terror acts in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts during separate meetings he is likely to have with his counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Describing Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in Kashmir as "martyr", Sharif had recently said that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", prompting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to say that his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity".
Singh will also raise the issue of slow pace of probe into terror attack in the Pathankot airbase, which was carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, and the the trial into the Mumbai terror attack case in that country, sources said.

Singh will be accompanied by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and several other senior officers of the Home Ministry.

Key issues like fight against terrorism, illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and small arms and how to make coordinated and concerted efforts to combat such menace will figure in the SAARC meet.
The three-tier meeting will begin at the joint secretary- level and then move on to Secretary and Home Minister-level meetings.
The meeting will also focus on strengthening networking among police authorities of SAARC member-countries and also enhance information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.
The last meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Ministers' conference was held in Kathmandu in 2014 when the Home Minister had said that member-nations of the group were facing common challenges and they should cooperate with each other to address them.

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There have been several incidents in the past in the icy heights of Himalayas when ITBP had noticed transgression by the Chinese forces and there had been confrontations between the two sides.
All such transgression were successfully foiled by the ITBP personnel, Singh said.
At today's event, the Home Minister honoured some ITBP personnel whose action led to foiling of PLA's attempt to transgress Indian territory at Chumar in Ladakh two years ago.
Singh said due to the intensive vigil and bravery of Indian forces, no country in the world can now cast an evil eye on India and everytime he sees these men and women he is filled with pride and confidence that the country is safe.

He also appreciated the personnel of ITBP, posted in Indian missions in Afghanistan, who had foiled terror attacks in Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabd early this year as well as for undertaking effective anti-Naxal operations.
The Home Minister said it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that the morale of the jawans is not let down and various steps are being taken for this.
Chiefs of all forces have to ensure this, he said, adding that he would try his best to resolve the problems of the jawans.
Rajnath said the Home Ministry has recently enhanced the ex-gratia payments made to the families of the personnel killed on duty.

"I feel this amount is also less as compared to the valour and sacrifice of our men...We will work to do more for our jawans," he said.
Singh said the housing satisfaction level of the ITBP and other paramilitary forces has been enhanced from 14 per cent to 25 per cent but this needs to be further enhanced as he said it was "not sufficient".
He wished the troops of paramilitary and defence forces on the forthcoming festival of Deepawali even as he underlined that the country sleeps in peace because the jawans are ever-vigilant on the borders and in the hinterland.

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The Home Minister laid the foundation stone of a new building for Institute of Archaeology (IA) here in the presence of Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma.
Speaking on the occasion, Sharma termed the Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Institute of Archaeology as a gift to the city and the country and said it would be a model institute.
Currently, the institute is being run from a temporary space in Lal Quila. The cost of the institute is Rs 300 crore and it will be ready in 18 months, he said.
IA is an academic wing of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the Ministry of Culture.