New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday expressed confidence that Jammu and Kashmir will soon be free of terrorism and said "no power in the world" can separate Jammu and Kashmir from India.
The Minister also expressed concern over the security of Indians in Afghanistan and said India is closely watching the developments.
Giving a talk as a part of Balramji Das Tandon lecture series through video conferencing, the Minister lauded armed forces for their efforts to counter terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir for the last seven years.
Singh exuded confidence that the Union Territory will soon be free of terrorism.
“The strength that separatist forces used to get due to Article 370 and 35A is now nowhere to be seen,” he said.
Referring to the cross-border strikes on terror camps, he said the model of terrorism adopted by the evil forces is slowly collapsing.
“The anti-India forces have understood that they are no longer in a position to do much in the Kashmir Valley, especially after the abrogation of Article 370. I want to assure you that no power in the world can separate Jammu & Kashmir from India,” he stated.
The comments come in the backdrop of concerns by security experts of terrorist groups from Afghanistan entering India, specially Jammu and Kashmir, and tense relations with neighbours China and Pakistan.
Talking about Afghanistan, he said security of Indians stuck there is a major concern, and India is continuously monitoring the situation.
“Security of Indians is a cause of concern for the Government. We also do not want that anti-India forces take advantage of the evolving Afghan situation for cross-border terrorism,” Rajnath Singh said.
The Defence Minister over the last few days has expressed concern over the situation at various fora, and has assured that India has been planning its strategy accordingly.
The Minister launched an attack on both Pakistan and China as well without naming the countries, and also said that terror incidents in Jammu and KAshmir have come down since abrogation of Article 370.
Referring to Pakistan, he said: "...When they realised that they cannot fight with us in front-wars, they resorted to a proxy war. They began to train and finance terrorists to target India".
He said there hasn’t been any major terrorist incident in the hinterland of India in the last seven years.
"This shows the increased morale and confidence of our Armed Forces,” he said.
Referring to the 2020 Galwan Valley incident, the Minister lauded the Indian Army, and said any border dispute can only be resolved peacefully and through dialogue, but at the same time, India will never compromise when it comes to "its borders, its honor and self-respect."
He said Indian Forces are fully prepared to meet any challenge.
Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15 after the extremist group entered Kabul and president Ashraf Ghani fled. Concerns have been expressed over Pakistan's support to Taliban.
India and China, which had a violent faceoff in Galwan valley last year, have since disengaged and 12 rounds of talks at Commander level of both armies have been held so far, with another one expected soon.
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