300 active mobiles found where IAF hit Pak: HM

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said intelligence surveillance found 300 mobile phones active at the IAF targets in Pakistan at the time when the terrorist camps were hit on February 26.

"If 300 mobile phones were active at that time there, you can gauge the number of terrorists killed. Were mobile phones with the trees and plants there? Odd questions are being asked by our opposition parties, instead of showing respect to what our armed forces have done," Singh said at a public meeting in eastern Assam's Dhubri town, bordering Bangladesh.

Singh’s claim comes a day after air chief marshal B S Dhanoa said the IAF does not count the human casualties and the government could only clarify the number of terrorist deaths.

“Air chief marshal Dhanoa yesterday said IAF does not count the casualties. Should they count the number like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5....? What tamasha is going on? If Congress wants to know the number, they should go to Pakistan and ask them. Politics should not be done like this with regard to the nation’s security. Politics should not be aimed at forming a government, politics should be aimed at building the nation,” Singh said as he asked the crowd to raise their hands and chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai, twice, during his speech.

Home Minister said terrorist camps were hit as per instruction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his assurance that sacrifice of 40 CRPF jawans in February 14 Pulwama terror attack would not be allowed to go in vain. “If anyone tries to destabilise the country, India will not pardon such elements. None can be allowed to play with the lives of innocent people. We are ready to talk with anyone having problems but those taking up arms for the same will not be tolerated,” he said.

Taking a dig at Congress, the home minister said, “Instead of asking how many terrorists they killed, Congress should show respect and pride at what our security forces have done.”

Israel-like smart fence for Indo-Bangla border

Before the rally, Singh inaugurated a smart fencing project under a Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System to bridge the unfenced riverine India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri. Radars, optical fibre network, drones, sonars and cameras will keep vigil underwater of the Brahmaputra, Gadadhar and Jinjiram rivers, where fencing could not be put up despite long demand to check illegal migration and cross border crime. “I saw similar smart fencing during my visit to Israel and i decided to implement the same here after coming back. The gadgets will send signals to the control rooms about the movement of infiltrators and accordingly our forces in land and water will act and put them behind bars,” Singh said.