Suhail Khan
New Delhi, Oct 15 : India will not allow its desire for peace to be read as weakness and any fresh terror strike from Pakistani soil will be met with a response bigger than the last one, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, in a clear escalation of New Delhi’s public posture towards Islamabad.
Addressing the Times Network National Defence Conclave 2026, Rajnath Singh as per The Web Story/The Varmul Post said India’s civilisational ethos has always shown the path of dialogue, coexistence and peaceful solutions, but stressed that “strength and capability are also essential to maintain peace.
Wishing for peace is an integral part of our civilizational consciousness and cultural values… But our commitment to peace should not be mistaken for our weakness, he said.
In remarks aimed squarely at Pakistan, the Defence Minister said If any further terrorist activity occurs from Pakistan’s side, there will be a strike even bigger than the last time.
Rajnath Singh’s warning comes against the backdrop of a series of Indian military responses to major terror attacks — the surgical strikes after the 2016 Uri attack, the Balakot airstrikes following the 2019 Pulwama attack, and Operation Sindoor after the killing of civilians in Pahalgam last year.
This was the first time in India’s history that the Indian armed forces had struck a decisive blow on the chest of terrorism, he said, adding that Pakistan-based terror hideouts were destroyed in the process.
Taking a swipe at Pakistan’s terror ecosystem, Rajnath Singh claimed that since 2014, the shelf life of most terrorists operating against India had shrunk to less than a year.
Those who have chosen the path of terrorism can no longer stay on this path for long. Our armed forces send them up there very quickly. And since 2014, the ‘shelf life’ of most terrorists has become less than even 1 year. That is, within one year of raising arms against India, our security forces have taken down most terrorists, he said.
He asserted that whenever terrorists attempted to shed blood on Indian soil, the country delivered a befitting reply every time.
The echo of that response must still be resounding in the ears of the masters of the terrorists even today, Rajnath Singh said.
