Sharif panics, calls NSC meet today
BARAMATI (Maha): Under fire from the opposition over escalating ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India has responded to the aggression with courage and lamented public debate on the issue for political gains.
“Today, when bullets are being fired on the border, it is the enemy that is screaming. Our jawans have responded to the aggression with courage,” Modi said at an election rally at Baramati, the turf of NCP chief and former Defence Minister Sharad Pawar.
“The enemy has realised that times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated,” he said.
He slammed those targeting the government on the issue through a public discourse, saying it demoralised the jawans fighting on the border.
“Such an issue should not be part of a political debate…
Elections will come and go, governments will come and go, but please don’t demoralise those fighting on the border by debating these things for political gains,” he said.
“People know my intentions and I need not express those in words. Where the jawans have to speak, they speak with their finger on the trigger…and they will continue to speak that way,” he said.
Targeting Pawar, who had criticised him for holding poll rallies in Maharashtra when there was tension on the border, Modi said, “When you were the defence minister, there were problems with Pakistan and China on the border. Did you ever bother to go to the border then.”
“There have been terror strikes in Maharashtra during your tenure…Mumbai, Malegaon, Pune. You could not even reach the terrorists, leave alone catching them. In the spirit of patriotism, we never politicised the issue,” he said.
Similarly, under fire from Opposition leaders for not adequately responding to border crisis, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Security Committee tomorrow to discuss with top military and civilian leaders the current situation. The Foreign Office said in a statement that the meeting will “discuss the recent ceasefire violations by India at the Line of Control and Working Boundary.”
Sharif will preside over the meeting of Defence, Interior, Finance and Information Ministers and Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the three services chiefs and other senior officials.
India and Pakistan have been trading heavy mortar and gun fire along the international border and LoC since 1st October.
While eight people died and 80 others, including nine security men, injured in the firing by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan claims that its 12 nationals have been killed so far.
The decision to call the meeting has been taken after Sharif came under fire from Opposition leaders, including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and Parvez Ilahi of Pakistan Muslim League (Q), for not standing up to the alleged Indian “aggression” at the border.
The National Security Committee was set up by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf as National Security Council but it was renamed by the Sharif government. It is a key consultative forum for civilian and military leaders to come together and discus different security issues facing the nation. (PTI)
