No unprovoked attack from Pakistan shall go unanswered, says Sitharaman

New Delhi: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Army will continue to respect the Ramzan ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir but asserted that no unprovoked attack from across the border will go unanswered as the forces have been given the right to hit back.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the NDA government, Ms Sitharaman said the government’s decision to go for ceasefire was not a ‘U-turn’ from its policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross border terrorism.

She also said that there cannot be dialogue with Pakistan as talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand.

Notwithstanding announcement of Ramzan ceasefire and talks between the DGMOs of the two countries, there have been incidents of cross border firing along the LoC and IB and nearly a dozen grenade attacks by militants within a week in the Valley.