Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that those who had been defeated in war were now using “pseudo-war” to fulfil their political objectives and encouraging terrorism. He was speaking at a Kargil Vijay Diwas function in New Delhi to mark the 20th anniversary of the Indian forces’ victory against Pakistan in Kargil.
The prime minister said the nature of war has changed today. “Now, wars are fought in space, in the cyber world,” he said. The prime minister pledged his government’s commitment to the modernisation of the armed forces, Hindustan Times reported. He referred to the anti-satellite weapon test conducted on March 27 and the military’s ability to fire nuclear weapons from sea, land and air.
He said the the “Make in India” programme was helping India build military hardware, and regulations had been changed to encourage the private sector to manufacture weapons systems. “Wars are fought not by governments but by the whole country,” he added. “The Kargil victory still inspires the whole country...Kargil was the victory of every Indian.”
The prime minister said India’s national security would not succumb to any pressure or influence, The Indian Express reported. “From the deep seas to limitless space, wherever there is a need for India’s national security, India will use all its capabilities,” he added. “The nation’s security has been impregnable and it will remain so.”
The prime minister said India’s victory in the Kargil war in 1999 was a “victory of the indomitable courage of India’s brave sons and daughters”. “Victory in Kargil was a victory of India’s capabilities and restraint,” Modi said. “It was a victory of India’s discipline.”
He paid tributes to the soldiers “who foiled the conspiracy to take down the tricolour from the peaks of Kargil by sacrificing their blood”, ANI reported. “I also pay respect to those brave mothers who gave birth to these bravehearts.”
Modi claimed that he had visited Kargil when the war was at its peak. “As a common citizen I went there and paid tribute to the courage of our soldiers,” he said.
The prime minister said his government had taken many important decisions for the welfare of soldiers and their families. “Our government took the decision to implement One Rank One Pension, which was pending since decades,” he said. “Right after our government was formed this time, we took the decision to raise scholarship of martyrs’ children.”
The prime minister said Pakistan had cheated on the matter of Kashmir since the beginning, and did so during the wars of 1948, 1965 and 1971. “Par 1999 mein uska chhal pehle ki tarah phir ek bar chal ki chhalni kar di gayi [In 1999, once again, its cheating was defeated],” he added. “History is proof that India has never been an aggressor.”
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