LADAKH: Prime Minister Narendera Modi on Friday said that Indian forces will never allow resurgence of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and will crush it with all their might. He asserted that the forces will give a befitting reply to the enemy’s plan to destabilise peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
“My voice can reach across the mountains to the ears of the mentors of terrorism. Their nefarious plans to destabilise peace here will never succeed. Our forces will crush terrorism with full force and give a befitting reply to the enemy’s plans,” the Prime Minister said after paying homage to the martyrs of the 1999 Kargil war at the Drass War Memorial on the occasion of the 25th Victory Day in Kargil.
PM Modi also carried out the first blasting of the Shinkun La tunnel, which will provide all-weather connectivity to Ladakh with the rest of the country. “Today, I am on the land of Kargil, which has become a witness to the supreme sacrifices offered by the brave men 25 years ago. Days, months and years pass, the weather also changes, but the names of those who laid down their lives for this land will remain alive forever,” he said. “Today, the entire nation is greatly indebted to the martyrs of the Kargil war.”
He said Indian forces carried out operations against the enemy on high-altitude peaks. “We were trying to achieve peace, but the enemy showed its double-face and finally the falsehood was defeated,” he said. “We did not win the Kargil war, but we proved our commitment to our nation and the valour of our brave forces.”
The Prime Minister said Pakistan has not learnt any lesson from its past mistakes. “It continues to promote terrorism to trigger a proxy war,” he said. “We will never allow the designs of the enemy to triumph.” He said all obstacles that come in the way of development of Ladakh or J&K will be removed with all might.
The Prime Minister said that five years after the abrogation of Article 370, Ladakh and J&K are thriving. “J&K is talked about for having held a successful G-20 meeting. Cinema theatres are functioning in Kashmir after more than three decades. People are chasing new dreams in Kashmir,” he said. On the Shinkhun La tunnel, the Prime Minister said that once the tunnel is completed, Ladakh will remain connected to the country throughout the year.
“In Ladakh, people live a peaceful life. In the last five years, the budget of Ladakh has increased from Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 6,000 crore. This region is chasing new dreams and reaching new heights,” he said. “Ladakh will soon have a 4G network and the 13-km Zojila tunnel will also be completed, with the result that National Highway 1 will become an all-weather route.”
Taking a jibe at the Congress for ignoring the demands of the armed forces, including the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF), he said, “These demands fell on deaf ears in the past. There was a huge yearning for reforms. Our government took the initiative to listen to the armed forces and today we have a list of 5,000 weapons that are no longer being exported from abroad.”
PM Modi slammed the Congress for playing politics with the Agniveer scheme and said that those who are opposing and criticising this scheme are the same people who are involved in the billions of rupees of defence budget scams. “These people never wanted the Army and the IAF to be self-reliant. They never wanted Tejas to be introduced in the IAF,” he said.
PM Modi said the BJP government has taken the decision to implement a single rank pension for the benefit of the armed forces. “As we celebrate the victory of the Kargil War today, it is not the victory of any government but the victory of the entire nation and it will remain the nation’s greatest asset,” he said. (KNO)
