India on Friday commemorates the 25th Kargil Vijay Diwas with Prime Minister Narendra Modi issuing a stern message to Pakistan saying it has been trying to stay relevant by using terrorism and proxy wars but all such terror attempts will be crushed with full force.
Modi chose to send the tough message to Pakistan from Kargil, where India defeated Pakistan in a short war in 1999 by killing and evicting thousands of Pakistani troops from the mountain peaks of Drass-Kargil sector across the Line of Control (LoC) which they had illegally occupied.
It was on this day that ceasefire was announced and it is celebrated by India as 'Kargil Vijay Divas'.
Addressing a gathering of serving and retired officers of the armed forces after paying tributes to the soldiers who participated in the Kargil War, the Prime Minister said Pakistan has not learnt any lessons from past defeats and mistakes.
Modi said Pakistan has faced defeats for all its immoral and shameful attempts in the past but it is still trying to keep itself "relevant with the help of terrorism and proxy war".
"Today, when I am speaking from a place where the masterminds of terror can hear my voice directly, I want to tell these patrons of terrorism that their nefarious designs will never succeed. Our bravehearts (soldiers) will crush terrorism with full force and the enemy will be given a befitting reply,” he said.
The Prime Minister's comments assume significance as these come against the backdrop of recent spurt in terror incidents in Jammu region which involved Pakistani terrorists.
There have also been increased infiltration attempts by terrorists from Pakistan.
Referring to the 1999 Kargil conflict, Modi said India not only won the war, but also "gave a wonderful example of ‘truth, restraint and strength’."
"You know, India at that time was trying for peace and in return Pakistan once again showed its untrustworthy face. But falsehood and terror were defeated in the face of truth,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister also justified the Agnipath scheme and attacked the Opposition parties, accusing them of politicising the issue.
He termed the Agnitpath scheme as a "necessary reform" to make the army young and keep it battle-ready.
Under the scheme, a soldier can serve the army for just 4 years.
In a veiled attack on the Congress which had promised to scrap the Agnipath scheme during Lok Sabha polls, Modi said some people used to think that the Army means saluting politicians and doing parades.
"But for us, the Army means the faith of 140 crore countrymen. The goal of Agnipath is to make the Army young, to keep the Army continuously fit for war. Unfortunately, some people have made such a sensitive issue related to national security a subject of politics. These are the same people who weakened our Army by committing scams worth thousands of crore,” said PM Modi.
Without naming any Opposition party, Modi said that these are the same people who wanted the Indian Air Force to never get modern fighter jet.
"These are the same people who had made preparations to scrap the Tejas fighter plane,” the PM said. "The truth is that the Agnipath scheme will strengthen the nation."
The PM said some people are spreading myths that the government has brought the Agnipath scheme to save pension costs.
“The pension burden of the soldiers being recruited today will come up after 30 years. Therefore, this cannot be the reason behind the scheme. We have respected this decision taken by the armed forces because for us the security of the country is more important than politics”, he added.
The Prime Minister pointed out that those misleading the youth of the country today had no regard for the armed forces in the past.
“These people allocated Rs 500 crore for one rank one pension and lied about the matter. Our government implemented one rank one pension and gave ex-soldiers more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore. These are the same people who did not build a war memorial for the martyrs even after seven decades of independence, did not provide enough bulletproof jackets to our soldiers deployed on the border and kept ignoring Kargil Vijay Diwas,” he said.
The PM also talked about the abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"In a few days, on August 5, it will be 5 years since Article 370 was abolished. Jammu and Kashmir is talking about a new future, talking about big dreams... Along with infrastructure development, the tourism sector is also growing rapidly in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding the country will defeat any effort impeding development of the region.
Earlier, the Prime Minister laid a wreath at Kargil War Memorial in Drass and paid homage to the soldiers who were killed during the war in 1999.
PM Modi also carried out the first blast of the Shinkun La Tunnel Project, virtually. Once completed, the tunnel will be the highest in the world.