Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Sunday castigated Pakistan, accusing it of engineering the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
He claimed that the neighbouring country backed the attack after finding out that the terrorists have become frustrated in the wake of the successful operations by the Indian forces in the past five years.
"Pakistan, which has been patronising terrorism, realised that frustration and desperation had grown among the militants due to successful operations against them by our security forces in five years," Singh said at a public meeting on the outskirts of this north Odisha town.
Asserting that the security forces have been given a free hand to give a "befitting reply" to the attack, the Union home minister said the sacrifice made by the CRPF jawans would not go in vain.
Asserting that all political parties have pledged full support to the government and the defence forces, Singh said the entire nation stands behind the Army, who would certainly "teach the enemy a lesson".