A day after Pakistan violated the ceasefire once again, defence minister Arun Jaitley said that India was capable of protecting its borders at any given time.
On a two-day visit to the Valley, the defence minister said, “We are capable of fighting back if any kind of ceasefire violation takes place by Pakistan.”
“Our army and our jawans (soldiers) are always ready to deal with such situations,’’ he added.
Jaitley also met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and top army officials separately. In a one-to-one meeting which lasted about an hour, the two leaders discussed the prevailing security scenario in detail.
According to a government spokesman, the two leaders also discussed the current situation on LoC. Matters relating to the state’s preparedness to conduct Amarnathji Yatra smoothly also came up for discussion.
The fact that the two leaders, who were engaged in a war of words during the Lok Sabha elections met in a cordial atmosphere, was acknowledged by the CM on microblogging site twitter. “Had a very productive meeting with Arun Jaitley in Srinagar this afternoon. Discussed matters related to both defence and finance with him,’’ Omar tweeted.
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{{/usCountry}}Had a very productive meeting with
in Srinagar this afternoon. Discussed matters related to both defence & finance with him.
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar)
Ahead of Jaitley’s visit, there was a ceasefire violation along the LoC on Friday. Pakistani troops targeted Indian posts with heavy firing and mortar shelling in the state’s Poonch district, prompting retaliation by Indian forces.
Pakistani troops targeted Indian positions in the Balakote sector with mortars and rockets, killing cattle and damaging houses.