'Peace is impossible to attain without power, even if war is the last resort,' PM Modi asserted

Asserting that India will give a befitting reply to anyone who casts an evil eye on the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that Pakistan’s defeat in the 1999 Kargil war made the end of terror possible.

“In Kargil, our forces crushed terror. There has not been a single war with Pakistan since then. In Kargil, our armed forces had crushed the hood of terror and people still remember the Diwali that was celebrated back then,” he said while addressing the armed forces in Kargil on the occasion of Diwali.

Modi said India as a nation has launched a war against its internal and external enemies. “Time is not far when all kinds of enemies will be wiped out and India will emerge as an enemy free nation,” the Prime Minister declared. “Terrorism and Naxalism are being rooted out. Naxalism at one point of time had engulfed a large portion of the country, but today, we have wiped it out to a large extent.”

“Peace is impossible to attain without power, even if war is the last resort. We are in the favour of world peace," he said.

However, the Prime Minister said that India will not shy away from giving a befitting reply to anyone who "dares to look at us with evil eyes.”

In 2014, the prime minister celebrated the festival of lights with soldiers at the Siachen Glacier. Since then he has been celebrating Diwali with security personnel every year.

“There can be no better Diwali festival than the one celebrated in Kargil where on one hand there are borders and on the other, brave men protecting it. Diwali festival actually means celebrating end of terrorism,” he said.

While directly addressing the armed forces personnel, Modi said: “I bow towards the spirit of the armed forces of India. Your sacrifices have always made our country proud. It is because the armed forces are protecting our borders, that every citizen in India sleeps peacefully.”

On the induction of women cadets into the armed forces, the Prime Minister said, “Our power is going to increase with the arrival of our daughters in the Indian Army.”

Modi, who has been mostly on the fence over Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, said that the Indian flag has become “a protective shield” for citizens stuck in the war-hit country. “There can be no military solution to the conflict and India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts,” he said.