Gurgaon: India has neither forgotten nor will forget the Pulwama terror attack and the country’s leadership is ‘capable and courageous’ to mete out effective responses to such acts, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval said Tuesday.
Speaking for the first time about the attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir, Doval 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 asserted.
“The country will tackle all such challenges and we have the courage to do this,” he said while addressing 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) terrorist blew up his explosives-laden vehicle alongside their bus. The country has not forgotten and will not forget the terror attack, Doval said, referring to the Pulwama incident.
The Pulwama attack was a ‘very sad incident’, Doval said, adding that the country will always be indebted to these personnel and their families.
Doval, a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is believed to be the person behind the planning of the air strike on a JeM camp in Balakot in Pakistan.
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), asserted.
PTI