India has neither forgotten nor will forget the Pulwama attack and the country’s leadership is “capable and courageous” to mete out effective responses to such acts, NSA AjitDoval said Tuesday.
Speaking for the first time about the attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir, the national security advisor (NSA) asked the paramilitary force to “constantly” enhance their professionalism, training, physical capabilities and quick response skills.
“What should we do? What should be our way, our aim and our response and time to respond? The country’s leadership is both capable and courageous to (do) that,” Doval said.
“The country will tackle all such challenges and we have the courage to do this,” he said while addressing Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel on the paramilitary force’s 80th raising day celebrations at its group centre here.
Doval began his 16-minute speech by paying tributes to the 40 personnel who were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant blew up his explosives-laden vehicle alongside their bus, which was part of a convoy going from Jammu to Srinagar.
The country has not forgotten and will not forget the terror attack, Doval said, referring to the Pulwama incident.
The NSA reiterated that the leadership of the country is fully capable to deal with any act of terror and also against those who abet it.
The Pulwama attack was a “very sad incident”, Doval said, adding that the country will always be indebted to these personnel and their families.
He asked CRPF personnel to “not look back” as they have a golden future ahead.
“If your morale is high, then the country’s future is safe,” the retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), said.
World history is replete with examples when weak internal security mechanisms led to loss of independence, constitutional crises and collapse of governments, he said.
Doval said after World War II, out of the 37 nations that faced such crisis, 28 suffered it because of internal security problems.
Therefore, the CRPF, as the lead internal security force of the country has an important role and onerous responsibility in ensuring peace, and law and order, he said.
Doval praised the force for its quick response in moving from one conflict or combat theatre to the another in a short time and for being a very “credible” force for the Indian government when it comes to ensuring law and order anywhere in the country.
He said anywhere in the country if there is a internal security challenge, “you will find CRPF’s tackling it”