Home Minister Rajnath Singh Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India would not resort to unprovoked firing along the LoC, but would give a befitting reply if Pakistan continued ceasefire violations.

“We will not fire first, but if Pakistan fired at us, we will not stop firing…,” he said.

Rajnath, who was in Pune to address students of Symbiosis on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, acceded to a request from the BJP brass in Pune to interact with people and provide an insight into the plans and policies of the government.

“A few months back, when five of our soldiers were killed due to unprovoked firing along the LoC, I had personally visited the border and tried to find out the actual situation. When I asked BSF bosses, I was told that despite us showing white flags, Pakistan continued to fire across the border,” he said.

The Home Minister said he was told that the BSF had shown the white flag at least 16 times, but Pakistan did not stop firing. “I was told the white flag meant that we will not fire, we don’t want to indulge in cross-border fire… However, I told BSF… Hum pehle goli nahin chalayenge, lekin unhone goli chalayi toh hum count nahin karenge (We will not fire first, but if they fire first, we will not stop firing),” he said amid applause at the Nehru art gallery.

He added that India has done everything possible to improve relations with Pakistan and efforts would continue in the future as well. “We extended our hand of friendship to Pakistan… We will have to improve our relations because friends change, but neighbours don’t, as Atalji used to say… The recent secretary-level talks with Pakistan were cancelled, but hopefully there would be another round of talks,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has approached the UN Security Council, urging it to take note of “provocative” actions along the Line of Control and make India “exercise restraint”.

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