New Delhi : Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said those who “fear” India’s “new posture” have already started reacting, adding that “change requires a change in mindset”.
“If the thinking pattern changes, a lot of things change…you are seeing it for the last two or three days. A simple action against insurgents has changed the mindset on the whole security scenario in the country,” Parrikar said.
Parrikar was speaking at a seminar on ‘Make in India’ in the national capital.
His comments come a day after Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that “India should not mistake the country for Myanmar”. “Pakistan Army is fully capable of responding to any adventurism,” Nisar had said.
Indian Army’s two surgical strikes along the Indo-Myanamar border on Tuesday was in response to the June 4 ambush of an army convoy in Manipur, in which 18 soldiers of 6 Dogra regiment were killed.
Meanwhile, accusing India of destabilising Pakistan, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said nuclear weapons are for the defence of the country and not for “celebratory” occasions.
Musharraf, who ruled from 1999 to 2008, claimed India is carrying an aggressive attitude as a pre-planned strategy with the ultimate end game of de-nuclearising Pakistan. “We do not want to use nuclear capability, but if our existence is under threat, what do we have these nuclear weapons for? If I say in Chaudhary Shujaat’s style, do we have nukes saved to be used on Shab-e-Baraat?” he told Dunya News.
“Don’t attack us, don’t challenge our territorial integrity, because we are not a small power, we’re a major and nuclear power. Don’t push us,” 71-year-old Musharraf said.
“We should have self-confidence that their (Indian) dream to de-nuclearise Pakistan is not possible. We won’t let their end game materialise,” he added.
Pakistan, which owns about 120 nuclear warheads, has the fastest growing nuclear weapons programme in the world, and by 2020 it could have enough fissile material to produce more than 200 nuclear devices, experts have said.
India has said it will not hesitate in going beyond its borders to eliminate terrorists, in an apparent warning to Pakistan.
