After facing a huge criticism from across the country as well from international media over his statement on so-called ‘cross-line of control surgical strikes’ by the army, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar is scared of using the word ‘strike’. On Sunday, he told the media that he has stopped using the word ‘strike’.
The minister has been reportedly under extreme pressure after criticism from the opposition parties as well as from civil society activists for his flurry of remarks over the “surgical strikes”, the Indian government claimed to have carried out in Azad Kashmir last month and which were denied by Pakistan.
“I will prefer to address the gathering in local language. I hardly get an opportunity to address in local language. But I promise you I will not touch any controversial issue. I have already stopped using the word strike,” Parrikar, who was in his home state of Goa, said during the inauguration of a helicopter engines maintenance unit in Sattari tehsil.
“You brought up the term (strike) in your speech, referring to labour issues,” he said on a lighter note after the speech by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar during the event.
Last week on October 17, the minister had criticized those seeking proof for the “surgical strikes” and said that it undermines the national security to challenge the claims of armed forces.
Originally published on Dawn News.
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