India is well equipped to deal with the dreaded terrorist group, Islamic State, and they pose no big challenge to the country, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said. Singh also warned Pakistan that India "will stop counting the bullets" if cross-border firing in violation of the ceasefire continued.
Addressing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, Singh said "a few years back (Ajmal) Kasab (involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack) was caught alive and now two other terrorists have been nabbed. From this, it is clear where these terrorists come from."
“We want friendly relations with all our neighbours, including Pakistan. However, Pakistan is constantly unhappy and keeps violating the ceasefire every other day,” Singh was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
"Pakistan always says that roots of terrorism are not in their country, but elsewhere...but this is amply clear to us now," he said. Rajnath's tough talk came days after Pakistan called off NSA-level talks with India. On the ISIS threat in West Asia, Rajnath said, "They are not a big challenge to us as we are well equipped to deal with any eventuality from them."
Last month, security forces caught two Pakistani terrorists, affiliated to Laskhar-e-Taiba, alive after separate encounters with them in the Kashmir Valley. While Mohammad Naveed alias Usman was nabbed on August 3, two days later Sajad alias Javed alias Abu Ubaidullah, who hails from Balochistan, was also captured, according to PTI.
The Minister said that India's diplomatic skills forced even America and UAE to pull up Pakistan for supporting terrorist activities. "America has also asked Pakistan to stop supporting terror activities. The UAE, which has never spoken against Pakistan, has also made it clear to Pakistan that it has to curb such activities...this is our diplomatic skills," he said.
I am an RSS 'Sayamsevak'
Singh rejected the opposition charges that the RSS was running the government and said he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are 'Sayamsevaks' of the saffron fountainhead and no one should have any problem in it.
"I want to clarify everyone that I am a RSS 'Sayamsevak' (worker), the Prime Minister is a RSS 'Sayamsevak and no one should have any problem in it," he said. Singh also dismissed the suggestion that RSS is running the Modi government.
"There is no truth in it. It is completely baseless," he said.
The Home Minister also rejected the charges that by attending a meeting with the RSS leadership, the Union Ministers have broken the oath of secrecy taken while assuming the charge. "We have not broken any oath of secrecy. By attending a meeting -- be it public or an indoor, no oath of secrecy is broken," he said.
He took a dig at the UPA: "There are a lot of problems. Previous governments created a lot of problems on the security front. They turned security issues into complex problems."
During the three-day "coordination" meeting of the RSS and the BJP, the top brass of the government and the BJP, including senior ministers, came face-to-face with the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and top Sangh leaders.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also participated in the dialogue on the last day of the "coordination" meeting.
Congress had criticised the ministers for attending the meeting alleging that the RSS was acting like a remote control and running the Modi dispensation. (With inputs from PTI)
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