‘Something big has happened’: Rajnath Singh hints at strikes in Pakistan

Rajnath Singh on Friday indicated that Indian forces may have hit Pakistani targets across the border. "Something has happened. I won’t reveal it now," Rajnath Singh said. Sources in the BSF confirmed that Pakistan suffered significant casualties in the heavy retaliatory shelling

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday indicated that Indian forces may have hit Pakistani targets across the border with heavy artillery attack to avenge the brutal killing of a BSF trooper in unprovoked firing by the Pakistanis.

Referring to the killing of Narendra Singh on the International Border in Samba district, the minister said, “Kuchh hua hai, main bataunga nahin. Theek thaak hua hai. Vishwas rakhna theek thaak hua hai do teen din pehle. Aur aage bhi dekhiyega kya hoga. (Something has happened. I won’t reveal it now. Something big has happened. Trust me, something really big has happened two-three days ago. And you will also see what happens in future).”

Sources in the BSF confirmed that Pakistan suffered significant casualties in the heavy retaliatory shelling.

The BSF jawan, part of a patrol party that had gone to cut wild grass along the IB fence in Ramgarh sector on September 18, was killed when he and his colleagues came under unprovoked firing by the Pakistanis. His body was dragged into the Pakistani side and when it was recovered a day later, it had three bullet wounds in the chest and the throat was slit.

The incident prompted an alert across the International Border and the LoC. Reacting to the killing of the BSF jawan, Army chief Bipin Rawat had said the time had come for another surgical strike and paying back Pakistan in its own coin.

The minister, who was in Muzaffarnagar to unveil a statue of Bhagat Singh, told a small gathering, “I had asked our BSF jawans not to fire the first bullet as Pakistan is our neighbour. However, if firing starts from across the border, I told jawans to hit back hard and not count the number of bullets fired.” 

The disclosure came on the second anniversary of the surgical strike carried out on terror launch pads across the border to avenge the strike on the Army’s Uri camp.

Recalling the 2016 surgical strikes, Singh said, “I remember the day the prime minister, showing his strong will power, gave the go-ahead to the Army and our soldiers entered their territory and hit the enemy hard. Only one of our commandos sustained injuries.”

Talking about border tension with China, Singh said, “I was told by ITBP jawans that India-China face-off these days is restricted to pushes and shoves without the use of weapons. This is the same country that once attacked us. Today, they only push and shove and this shows that they have realised that India is no more a weak country.”