Home Minister Rajnath Singh plans visit to forward areas to boost jawans’ morale

NEW DELHI: Home minister Rajnath Singh is likely to visit forward posts in Jammu & Kashmir this week, even as firing continues from across the border with Pakistan.

Sources close to the home minister said the Centre is viewing the repeated ceasefire violations very seriously and had decided to counter aggression from the Pakistani side with a befitting and firm reply.

Singh's visit to the forward posts in Jammu later this week, the first since he took over as home minister, is aimed at keeping the BSF troops motivated to firmly counter the aggressive firing/shelling from Pakistani forces on Indian posts and villages. He is expected to interact with the BSF troops as well as villagers affected by the firing.

The minister, who on Monday discussed the situation arising out of continuous firing by the Pakistani forces at the daily security briefing attended by national security adviser Ajit Kumar Doval, IB chief Syed Asif Ibrahim and DG BSF D K Pathak, stressed the need to follow the protocol of flag meetings to discuss the violations but at the same time directed the BSF to retaliate if the ceasefire violations did not cease.