NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday offered India's assistance to Pakistan in combating terrorism.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Rajnath said that India will not allow terrorists to operate in the country and warned Islamabad of consequences if it tries to destabilise India.
The Defence Minister said, "If Pakistan thinks that it is not capable of controlling it, if they feel they are not capable, then India is a neighbour, if they want to take India's help, they should. India is ready to provide all assistance to combat terrorism."
"They are our neighbours, and if their intention is clear that terrorism should end, they should do that themselves or take help from India...we both can end terrorism. But this is their call, I am just giving a suggestion," the minister further added.
"We won't allow terrorists to operate within Indian borders. We will do everything to stop it," he added.
Rajnath's latest remarks come after his comments a few days back that India would enter Pakistan if terrorists ran away to the neighbouring nation after carrying out attacks here.
"If they run away to Pakistan, we will enter Pakistan to kill them," Singh had told a news channel.
He was asked about a report published in The Guardian claiming that Indian intelligence agencies were behind the killings of people associated with terrorist organisations or radical groups.
"India always wants to maintain good relations with its neighbouring countries ... But if anyone shows India the angry eyes again and again, comes to India and tries to promote terrorist activities, we will not spare them," Singh said.
However, the ministry of external affairs denied the claims. It quoted S Jaishankar's earlier statement asserting that targeted killings in other countries were "not the government of India's policy".
Relations between India and Pakistan declined after the 2019 Pulwama suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy. After the attack was traced to Pakistan, India had carried out airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Balakot.
Since then, a number of people having terror links have been killed in Pakistan under mysterious circumstances.
