India determined to protect its territorial integrity: Rajnath

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 5

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said peace could not be necessarily be achieved by a desire for peace, but by the ability to deter a war.

He was speaking at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the National Defence College (NDC) before a two-day webinar on “India’s National Security-a Decade Ahead”.

Expanding his thoughts, Rajnath Singh said, “The mere desire to seek peace, if not reciprocated by others, does not necessarily succeed in building a harmonious environment in a world beset by conflicting ideas of security, sovereignty and national interests.”

He outlined four broad principles that are likely to guide India’s quest for national security in the future. The first is the ability to secure India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty from external threats and internal challenges.

Second, he said, was the ability to create secure and stable conditions that could facilitate India’s economic growth, thereby, creating resources for nation building and to meet individual aspirations.

“Third, remain steadfast in the desire to protect our interests beyond the borders in areas where our people reside and our security interests converge. Lastly, a globalised and interconnected world, the country’s security interests are interlinked by shared commons,” he added.

India has proved that countries that employ terrorism as an instrument of national policy can also be deterred through options that were considered un-implementable in the past. “Pakistan continues to remain adamant in the use of terrorism as state policy,” he said, adding that India has achieved substantial success in working with progressive and like-minded countries to not only expose Pakistan’s regressive policies, but also make it increasingly difficult to continue with its previous business as usual approach.

“Our strategic partnership with the US is stronger than ever before,” Rajnath Singh said, adding that India’s friendship has also grown tremendously with Japan, Australia and Russia. India has also forged a very special partnership with reliable friends like France and Israel, he added.

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