Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey
Asserting Pakistan was not “mending its ways”, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday sent out a strong message to it over the continuing spate of unprovoked firing incidents along the border saying the government will never seek answers from Indian forces on “how they chose to retaliate” to such actions.
Delivering the keynote speech at the Border Security Forces' 16th investiture ceremony here, he said, without naming Pakistan, that it was an “irony” that despite India wanting peace with its neighbours, a particular country was not “mending its ways.” “This (Pakistan's acts) can be a subject of research and these activities of the neighbour are hard to understand,” Singh said.
He said that while the government has directed the Border Security Force (BSF) and other forces on the border like the army to never fire the first bullet, “no one will ask them how they chose to retaliate”. “If you (the BSF) are fired upon, then you have to decide what is the best course of reaction or action. You have done this with remarkable responsibility in the past,” the minister told the personnel of the border guarding force.
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