23rd Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations | Joint theatre commands for tri-services soon: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addresses a gathering during a function organised as part of the 23rd Kargil Vijay Divas celebrations at Gulshan Ground in Jammu. (Twitter @rajnathsingh)

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday announced the setting up of “joint theatre commands” so as to have an enhanced coordination among all three services of the country’s armed forces.

“Drawing a lesson from the coordination seen between the Army, Indian Air Force and the Navy during the Kargil war, we have decided to set up joint theatre commands in the country,” he said, while addressing a function organised by Jammu and Kashmir People’s Forum, an offshoot of the RSS, in connection with the 23rd Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations at Gulshan Ground here. “The work in that direction is going on at a fast pace,” he said.

Referring to India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil war, he said they would emerge victorious again if a war happened in future.

Pitching for reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Singh said it is part of India and will continue to remain part of this country. “PoK is a part of Indian territory and will continue to do so. How is it possible that Baba Amarnath (Lord Shiva’s form) is in India and Maa Sharda Shakti is across the Line of Control,” he said.

Paid tributes to the freedom fighters & the Armed Forces personnel who have laid down their lives since independence in the service of the Nation at a commemorative event organised to mark Kargil Vijay Diwas in Jammu today. https://t.co/8fQMdPHL0K pic.twitter.com/iokKspDUy2

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) July 24, 2022

Referring to the Sharda Peeth, which has the ruins of a temple to Hindu goddess Saraswati, also known as Sharda, Singh said how can Shiv Saroop (Amarnath) be on this side of J&K and Shakti Saroop (Sharda) in PoK side.

“God should give better sense to Pakistan. I cannot say beyond that,” he said.

Without naming Pakistan or China, Rajnath said: “During the Kargil war, many foreign powers reminded India of Pakistan’s nuclear power, but it was not acceptable to us to succumb to any foreign pressure and we emerged victorious,” he said, adding: “I can say with confidence that in future also, if foreign powers dared to look at India and if there is a war, India will be victorious again.”

Pointing out that India’s defence forces had a lot of contribution in maintaining the present day geographical map of Jammu and Kashmir, he said in the Army, many operations had happened, were happening and would happen in the future, if needed. While there had been no major activity by Pakistan against India in 1950s, China had undertaken a number of operations in Ladakh.

The 1962 war had made it clear that the Chinese intentions were not good, he said, adding Jawaharlal Nehru was the PM at that time. “Many people criticise Nehru on that count,” he said.

“I too come from a particular party and I do not want to criticise any (former) PM… I do not want to raise a question mark on the intention of any (former) PM because I know that there cannot be anything wrong in anybody’s intentions, there can be deficiencies in their policies,” he said, adding: “But we could not make up for the losses suffered then.” However, India was no longer a weak nation, he said. With PTI inputs