India will cross the Line of Control (LoC) if the need arises, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday, speaking on the 24th anniversary of the Kargil conflict. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has given a free hand to armed forces to launch operations across the border, if need arises,” he added.
The fact that Indian forces did not cross the LoC during the Kargil conflict in 1999 did not mean that they could not do so, he stressed.
“A war is not just between two armies but between two nations... Even after winning the war on July 26, 1999, if our forces did not cross the LoC, it is only because we are peace-loving, we believe in Indian values, and we have a commitment to international law. At that time if we did not cross the LoC, it does not mean that we could not cross the LoC. We could cross the LoC, we can cross the LoC, and will cross the LoC in future if there is a need, I assure the countrymen,” he said, after paying homage at the Kargil War Memorial at Dras, in the Kargil district of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
