‘For India, war is always the last resort’ : Modi

NewsGate Press Network

Celebrating Diwali with soldiers right at the front lines in Kargil, the prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday the 24^th of October 2022 stated in no unequivocal terms that while ‘India had always wanted war as the last resort with Pakistan’, our armed forces are always ready to give a befitting reply to terrorists.

Kargil was a battleground in 1999, after Pakistani soldiers and militants occupied vantage points atop the towering mountain peaks that overlook the strategic Srinagar- Leh highway. The Indian Army managed to win back its territory after two months and the Indian Army lost 500 officers and soldiers in the War.

Modi said that he was witness to the 1999 Kargil war.

“From the land of Kargil, there has not been a single war with Pakistan where Kargil has not hoisted the flag of victory. The meaning of Diwali is end of Aatank (terror) and Kargil had done exactly the same and the celebrations of the victory are remembered even today,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that the reverence for the soil of Kargil always draws him towards the brave sons and daughters of the armed forces.

“For years, you have been a part of my family”, Modi said.

The Prime Minister stressed that the sweetness of Diwali increases in the presence of the jawans and the light of Diwali that is present among them emboldens his spirit.

“On one side there are the sovereign borders of the nation, and on the other committed soldiers. On one we have the love of the soil of the motherland, and on the other, there are braveheart jawans. I could not have expected a Diwali of such magnitude anywhere else,” he said .

Modi said India is against war and always viewed it as the last resort.

“We follow the traditions where war is considered as the last option… India is always in favour of world peace. We are against war, but peace is not possible without strength. Our armies have the capability and the strategy, and if someone looks at us, then our armies also know how to give a befitting reply to the enemy in their own language,” he told the soldiers.