PM Modi warned that the Indian Army will respond firmly to any ceasefire violation by Pakistan and other provocative actions intended to disturb peace and spark violence. The Modi government has followed a policy of heavy retaliatory firing on the LoC and the IB in J&K. A chopper carrying a top PoK leader violated Indian airspace on Sunday

NEW DELHI: In what will be read as a signal to the new government of Imran Khan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday warned that the Indian Army will respond firmly to any ceasefire violation by Pakistan and other provocative actions intended to disturb peace and spark violence.

“It has been decided that our soldiers will give a befitting reply to whosoever makes an attempt to destroy the atmosphere of peace and progress in our nation. We believe in peace, we are committed to taking it forward... but not at the cost of compromising our self-respect and sovereignty of our nation,” Modi said in his monthly radio programme ‘ Mann ki Baat’.

The PM’s remarks on the officially promoted second anniversary of surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in the backdrop of India’s decision to cancel a meeting between Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers can indicate recourse to a tougher or more proactive response to violence along the LoC. The Modi government has followed a policy of heavy retaliatory firing on the LoC and the IB in J&K.

The comments also need to be seen in the context of the new government under Imran Khan taking charge in Pakistan and the Indian assessment that this has been accompanied by an uptick in violence in J&K where state police personnel have been kidnapped and murdered amid strong indications that terror organisations and separatists are working to scuttle panchayat elections. Modi’s comments can be read as a signal to the Pakistani government not to misread the likely response to cross-LoC violence.

The PM dedicated a large part of his radio address to the armed forces and said, “Yesterday, 125 crore Indians celebrated ‘ Parakram Parva’, the festival of valour. We remembered the surgical strikes carried out in 2016, where our soldiers gave a befitting reply to the audacity of a proxy war under the garb of terrorism.”

In recent comments, Army chief General Bipin Rawat had said Pakistan’s actions needed to be met with strong deterrence. “We need to take stern action to avenge the barbarism that terrorists and Pakistan army have been carrying out against our soldiers. Yes, it is time to give it back in the same coin, not resorting to similar kind of barbarism. But I think the other side must also feel the same pain,” General had said.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj's intervention at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, as has been the case in the last few years, was a denouncement of Pakistan’s role in promoting terrorism. A junior diplomat followed this up by pointing to dozens of banned organisations and sanctioned terrorists being active in Pakistan.

The PM underlined that India was committed to peace and its record going back to the role of Indian soldiers in the two World Wars was evidence of its non-aggressive intent. “We have never eyed someone else’s territory maliciously. This in itself is our commitment and dedication towards peace,” Modi said.

He said the nation had recently remembered the centenary of the battle of Haifa in Israel and paid tributes to our brave soldiers of Mysore, Hyderabad and Jodhpur Lancers. India is one of the largest contributors to various United Nations peacekeeping missions.