JOIN USModi tacitly refers to threat from Pakistan, China on I-Day, says India is fighting terror, expansionism from LoC to LAC
India is fighting both terrorism and expansionism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, tacitly referring to the twin challenges posed by Pakistan and China to the security and sovereignty of the nation.
“Whoever challenged the sovereignty of India, be it on the LoC (Line of Control with Pakistan) or on the LAC (the Line of Actual Control with China), our valiant soldiers gave them a befitting reply in their own languages,” the Prime Minister said from the rampart of the Red Fort after hoisting the national flag on the occasion of the 74th Independence Day.
He was obviously referring to the responses by the Indian Army and the paramilitary forces, not only against violation of ceasefire by Pakistan Army personnel along the LoC but also against the attempts by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to unilaterally alter the status quo on the LAC.
The nation is celebrating its 74th Independence Day even as the more-than-100-day-long military stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in eastern Ladakh continues. The Indian Army lost 20 of its soldiers in a violent face-off with the Chinese PLA in Galwan Valley on June 15. Though the PLA too suffered casualties, the Chinese Government did not make public the number of its soldiers, who were injured or killed in the clash.
The stand-off, which started with the Chinese PLA’s transgression into the territory of India, took the relations between New Delhi and Beijing to a new low, particularly after the clash in Galwan Valley.
“India’s sovereignty is supreme and the world has seen in Ladakh what our gallant soldiers can do to protect it, what the country can do,” the prime minister said. He was apparently referring to the Indian Army’s response to attack by the Chinese PLA in Galwan Valley.
The Pakistan Army too stepped up flouting the truce along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir to facilitate infiltration of the terrorists into India. The Indian Army stepped up preparedness to deal with any move that the Pakistan Army might make to take advantage of the military stand-off between India and China.
“Be it terrorism or expansionism, India is fighting both,” the Prime Minister said, even as he avoided directly referring to Pakistan and China.
He said that the faith of the global community in the nation had increased. India recently winning a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council with the support of 184 of the total 193 members of the international organization was a sign of this faith, said the prime minister.
China and Pakistan have been running a diplomatic campaign against India over the past one year, opposing India’s August 5, 2019 move to strip its erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state of its special status and to reorganize it into two Union Territories. With support from the United States, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, New Delhi, however, resisted multiple attempts by China and Pakistan to embarrass India by bringing the issue of the J&K back on the agenda of the Security Council.
“We have raised the trust of the world community in us. This happens when India itself is strong and secure,” said the Prime Minister.