Lashing out at Pakistan, the Modi government, in the annual report of the ministry of defence (MoD) for 2014-15 released on Thursday, said that the “use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy has deep roots in the Pakistani military establishment”.
The report added that “Pakistan continues to remain home to several non-state actors with the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) serving as the fountainhead for terrorist activity in the region”.
Hitting out further at Pakistan, the report said, “Pakistan stepped up its efforts both to internationalise the Kashmir issue and to engineer violence in the state (of J&K). The terrorist infrastructure across the border remains intact and Pakistan’s frustration manifested itself in ceasefire violations and high visibility, audacious attacks by foreign terrorists.”
In a significant comment on China in the wake of increase in Chinese footprints in the Indian Ocean region, the report says, “China is extending its line of access towards the Indian Ocean through Myanmar and Pakistan. Its footprint in India’s immediate neighbourhood has also been increasing as a result of its proactive diplomacy.”
The report also said that “the security situation in J&K is at a very critical stage”. It further said, “Relentless and successful counter-infiltration and counter-terrorism operations have led to the parliamentary and Assembly elections being conducted successfully with very high voter turnout”.
The government has therefore once again set the record straight after J&K chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s earlier controversial utterances — rejected by the Indian government — in which he was seen to have virtually credited Pakistan and the separatist Hurriyat for the successful conduct and high participation in the Assembly elections in the Kashmir Valley.
“The expanding footprints of extremist and terrorist organisations in Pakistan and their linkages with terrorist activities in J&K and the rest of India poses a major security challenge to India, with severe ramifications on bilateral relations ...”, the report says.
“Ceasefire violations and infiltration from across the border also continues unabated,” the report states, while referring to “the continued existence of terrorist camps across the international border and LoC”.
The report is much softer on China, saying that “although the unresolved boundary dispute between India and China is a major factor in India’s security calculus, India has engaged with China on the principle of mutual respect and sensitivity ...”. But the report, nevertheless, adds, “India remains conscious and watchful of the implication of China’s increasing military profile in our immediate and extended neighbourhood, as well as the development of strategic infrastructure by China in border areas”.
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