Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has said India is ready to cross the Line of Control (LoC) to maintain its honor and dignity. The LoC is currently the demarcation line between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. "We can go to any extreme to maintain the honor and dignity of the country... if that includes crossing the LoC."

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Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has said India is ready to cross the Line of Control (LoC) to maintain its honor and dignity. The Line of Control (LoC) is currently the demarcation line between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

"We can go to any extreme to maintain the honor and dignity of the country... if that includes crossing the LoC, we are ready to do that... if we are provoked and if the need arises, we will cross the LoC," Rajnath said.

"India is a peace-loving nation which believes in its centuries-old values and is committed towards international laws, but to safeguard our interests, we will not hesitate in crossing the LoC," he said.

Rajnath Singh was speaking on Wednesday at the Kargil War Memorial on the occasion of the 24th Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargal Victory Day).

The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the LoC.

Rajnath Singh said the Kargil war was imposed on India.

"We were backstabbed by Pakistan... the war was imposed on India. I salute our brave sons who put the country first and sacrificed their lives," he said.

Responding Rajnath's statement Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson said, "Pakistan strongly condemns the provocative statement made by Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on July 26, 2023, in Ladakh, boasting India's readiness to cross the Line of Control. These unwarranted and totally unacceptable remarks reflect India's hostility against its neighbors, Pakistan in particular."

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, "Pakistan is fully capable of defending itself against any aggression as demonstrated in its forceful response to India's misadventure in February 2019."

She said this was not the first time that India's political leaders and senior military officers had made such highly irresponsible and delusional remarks about Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

"They routinely engage in jingoistic rhetoric for political ends by stoking hyper-nationalism and anti-Pakistan sentiment. This practice of dragging Pakistan into Indian political discourse must end."

Mumtaz said, "These highly irresponsible statements also constitute a threat to regional peace and security and aim to destabilize the strategic environment in South Asia. While fully prepared to respond to India's provocations and irresponsible behavior, Pakistan will continue to act responsibly and contribute to all efforts for promoting peace, security, and stability in the region."

The spokesperson also said Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognized disputed territory.

"India's claims on Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are founded in fantasy. Neither history and international law, nor morality and the situation on ground, can validate India's illusions. It should, therefore, direct its attention to full implementation of the relevant UNSC resolutions, which stipulate that the final disposition of the territory will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations," she added.

This is not the first time that Rajnath has threatened to 'liberate' Pakistan-administered Kashmir. On June 26, 2023, while while addressing a National Security Conclave in New Delhi, she said: "People living in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will raise a demand to go with India. Pakistan does not have a locus standi there as it has illegally occupied the area. The Indian Parliament has unanimously passed at least three resolutions which state that PoK is a part of India."

Not surprisingly, Indian Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Kapil Patil had earlier expressed hope that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is integrated with India by 2024. "Hope PoK is integrated in India by 2024 as these things can be done only by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Patil recalled the Prime Minister Modi's statement in Rajya Sabha on the Kashmir issue in 2015:

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given such assurance in the Rajya Sabha wherein he had said that former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had called a joint session of Parliament and in it, he (Rao) had said that PoK is the biggest problem of the country. The Kashmir will have to be taken by India at some point or the other, only then can a permanent solution be found. The Prime Minister had then pointed to the Congress and said that you could not do this, but I am doing it."

It may be pointed out that general elections are due in India in 2024 and Bhartia Janta Party (BJP) of Modi hopes to maintain power that it acquired in 2014.

Authors Bio:

Author and journalist.
Author of
Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality;
Islam in the Post-Cold War Era;
Islam & Modernism;
Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America.
American Muslims in Politics.
Islam in the 21st Century: Challanges, conspiracies & Chaos
Muslim Word in the New Global Order
Currently working as free lance journalist.
Executive Editor of American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com