Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Pakistan had not learned any lessons from past defeats and mistakes and is trying to keep itself "relevant with the help of terrorism and proxy war".
Modi also defended the Agnipath scheme and termed it a "necessary reform" to make the army young and keep it battle-ready.
Modi was addressing a gathering of serving and retired Army officers at the War Memorial in Drass on the 25th anniversary of the Kargil War.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan has faced defeat for all its immoral and shameful attempts in the past.
"They (Pakistan) have always failed in the past. But Pakistan has not learned anything from its history. It is trying to keep itself relevant with the help of terrorism and proxy war. Today when I am speaking from a place where the masters of terror can hear my voice directly, I want to tell these patrons of terrorism that their nefarious intentions will never succeed. Our brave hearts (soldiers) will crush terrorism with full force and the enemy will be given a befitting reply,” Modi said in his address, in an indirect reference to the heightened terror strikes in Jammu and & Kashmir.
Speaking about the 1999 Kargil war, Modi said India not only won the war but gave a wonderful example of ‘truth, restraint and strength’.
“In Kargil, we not only won the war, but we also gave a wonderful example of ‘truth, restraint and strength’. You know, India at that time was trying for peace, and in return, Pakistan once again showed its untrustworthy face. But falsehood and terror were defeated in the face of truth,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister also took a dig at the Congress and its allies in the Opposition over the Agnipath scheme and accused them of "politicisation of the issue".
Modi said the goal of Agnipath in the Army is to make the Army young and keep them fit for war.
In a veiled attack on the Congress, which had promised to scrap the Agnipath scheme during Lok Sabha polls, Modi said some people used to think that the Army meant saluting politicians and doing parades.
"But for us, the Army means the faith of 140 crore countrymen. The goal of Agnipath is to make the Army young, to keep the Army continuously fit for war. Unfortunately, some people have made such a sensitive issue related to national security a subject of politics. These are the same people who weakened our Army by committing scams worth thousands of crore,” said PM Modi.
Without naming any Opposition party, Modi said that these are the same people who wanted the Indian Air Force to never get a modern fighter jet.
"These are the same people who had made preparations to scrap the Tejas fighter plane,” the PM said. "The truth is that the Agnipath scheme will strengthen the nation."
The PM said some people are spreading myths that the government has brought the Agnipath scheme to save pension costs.
“The pension burden of the soldiers being recruited today will come up after 30 years. Therefore, this cannot be the reason behind the scheme. We have respected this decision taken by the armed forces because for us the security of the country is more important than politics”, he added.
The Prime Minister pointed out that those misleading the youth of the country today had no regard for the armed forces in the past.
“These people allocated Rs 500 crore for one rank one pension and lied about the matter. Our government implemented one rank-one pension and gave ex-soldiers more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore. These are the same people who did not build a war memorial for the martyrs even after seven decades of independence, did not provide enough bulletproof jackets to our soldiers deployed on the border, and kept ignoring Kargil Vijay Diwas,” he said.
The PM also talked about the abrogation of Article 370 which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
“In a few days, on August 5, it will be 5 years since Article 370 was abolished. Jammu and Kashmir is talking about a new future, talking about big dreams... Along with infrastructure development, the tourism sector is also growing rapidly in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding the country will defeat any effort impeding the development of the region.
Earlier, the Prime Minister laid a wreath at the Kargil War Memorial in Drass and paid homage to the soldiers who were killed during the war in 1999.
PM Modi also carried out the first blast of the Shinkun La Tunnel Project, virtually. Once completed, the tunnel will be the highest in the world.