Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 8, 2019, said the decision taken by the Government over the last few days in nullifying Article 370 and creating two Union Territories in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has ended the discrimination faced by the people during the last 70 years.
Addressing the annual general body meeting of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi, Rajnath said the groundwork towards a permanent solution for this issue had been laid during the first term of Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The decision will have some effects, he said adding that the neighbouring country is not happy and it will try to disturb peace. Our Armed Forces have accepted the security challenge and are fully prepared to meet any threats, he said.
Rajnath urged IDSA to carry out careful, meaningful and five-dimensional analysis as new threats had emerged in cyber and space domains in addition to the traditional threats from land, air and sea. He also suggested that IDSA can study and speed up processes of import of Defence merchandise.
He said the Government adopted neighbourhood first policy which treats countries sharing land as well as maritime boundary with India as our neighbours. It was reflected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit abroad in his second term to Maldives and his own visit to Mozambique.
Earlier, Rajnath was unanimously elected President of IDSA by its Executive Council. Sujan R Chinoy, Director General, IDSA, briefed him on the role and functions of IDSA. Rajnath planted a sapling on the IDSA premises in the presence of scholars and members of IDSA, according to a PIB release.