If Needed, India Will Enter Pakistan & Kill Terrorists: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

If needed, India will enter Pakistan and eliminate the terrorists who try to disturb the peace in the country, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.

In an exclusive interview with News18, Singh said, "If he [terrorist] flees to Pakistan, we will follow him and take him down on Pakistani soil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken the truth... India has the capability and Pakistan has also started understanding that,"

He was responding to a question on a report in the UK newspaper The Guardian, which alleged that the Indian government had sanctioned targeted operations in Pakistan as part of a broader strategy to eliminate terrorists operating on foreign soil.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs denied the claims made by the publication and said that they were "false and malicious anti-India propaganda".

In the interview, the Defence Minister said, "India wants to maintain cordial relations with its neighbour. Look at our history. We have never attacked any country or even occupied an inch of territory of any other country. This is India's character." However, "if someone tries intimidating India by fomenting terror on our soil, they will not be spared",

He once again reiterated his earlier stand on the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir that the region was, is and will always be an integral part of India.

"Be assured that the people of PoK will themselves demand that they be with India. You must have seen that there were a few demonstrations there since they want to merge with India. After the abrogation of Article 370, normalcy has returned to Kashmir and development has been fast-tracked.

Tensions between the nations escalated following the 2019 suicide bombing of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which was attributed to Pakistan-based terrorists. In response, India conducted an airstrike on a terrorist base located in Pakistan.

The abrogation of Article 370 further escalated the tension between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Earlier this year, Pakistan claimed to possess credible evidence linking Indian operatives to the killing of two of its citizens within its territory.