NEW DELHI: Indicating a hardening of resolve within the government, Indian defence minister Manohar Parrikar has said that PM Narendra Modi’s promise to punish those behind the Uri terror attack would not remain words. “Sometimes I can have a knee jerk reaction too. But we are a responsible nation,” he said.
India would not be deterred by Pakistan brandishing nuclear weapons, he added.
Parrikar’s remarks came after a meeting of the cabinet committee on security, which was chaired by Modi and held after a slew of military assessments of options amid a strong demand in the BJP leadership that the Uri outrage must not go unpunished.
“…I don’t think the PM’s initial words that `those responsible will be punished’ will go as a mere statement. How to punish, that is for us to work out,” Parrikar said at an event here.
The defence minister admitted there were lapses at the Army camp at Uri. “Obviously, something must have been wrong.”
“I believe in zero-error,” he said, adding that the government would find out what went wrong in the camp’s security that led to the death of 18 soldiers, many in the blaze that consumed the tents they were sleeping in. —INP
