 "Minister of State at PMO Jitendra Singh offers sweet to BSF jawans during a visit to a border village Rapura in Samba.Photo: PTI")
Asserting that the human rights of an Army soldier are supreme, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said an Indian soldier's rights should take precedence over those of terrorists.
He said a militant forfeits his entitlement to human rights the day he engages in terrorism which is the biggest violation of human rights.
"Human rights of an Army soldier are supreme...The human rights of Indian soldiers should take precedence over the rights of terrorists," he said.
Singh, who arrived in Jammu this morning, drove straight to International Border, saying he would like to begin his visit by meeting the security personnel posted at the border and greeting them on Diwali eve.
He addressed a public meeting organised by Seema Jan Kalyan Samiti, comprising ex-servicemen, their families and local residents.
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He said people find Army a convenient, soft target as it is trained to exercise restraint but they do not have courage to call a terrorist a terrorist or to condemn the atrocious act of mutilating a soldier's body.
He said a terrorist, who is not constrained to follow any rule of law, will immediately retaliate and put their life at risk.
Singh said it is high time the nation rose to call the bluff of the so called 'human rights protagonists and the pseudo-intellectuals' who seek to promote their politics at the cost of army jawans. He said when you ask them a straight question on whether Burhan Wani was a terrorist or not, instead of saying 'yes' or 'no', they come out with long platitudes, philosophies and postulations.
Those who lack the courage of conviction to call a spade a spade, have no right to point a finger at an armed forces jawan because of whom they are in a position to conveniently sit in their drawing rooms and issue "lofty" statements, he added.
Stressing that this year's Diwali was dedicated to the army and para-military forces, Singh said we are able to celebrate the festival in the country, because of the young soldiers who are guarding the border day and night and spending sleepless nights.
It is a sin to say or do anything that would directly or indirectly compromise the morale of armed forces, he added.
Singh said for the first time since Independence, a project has been undertaken to build 1140 Sulabh toilets in the border villages, out of which 150 have already been completed and added that construction of bunkers along the border areas has also been started.
The Union Minister claimed that the critics had never even once lauded the Narendra Modi government for enhancing the compensation of the civilian victims of cross-border firing, putting it at par with that of terrorism victims.
About the allotment of 5 marlas of land to each family along the border, Singh said this issue is still under consideration.
