Addressing a meeting on Kargil Vijay Diwas in Drass on Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of India's victory in the Kargil conflict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan that its nefarious designs in fuelling cross-border terrorism will be crushed with full force. The Prime Minister said, "Pakistan has not learnt any lessons from its past defeats and has continued to wage war in the garb of terrorism and proxy war to stay relevant....Today I am speaking from a place where the patrons of terrorism can hear my voice. I want to tell them that their nefarious aims will never succeed. Our brave soldiers will crush them with full force. The enemy will get a befitting reply."
Modi saluted the brave jawans and officers who made the supreme sacrifice to protect the motherland. The Prime Minister justified the Agnipath scheme saying that short-term recruitment of young soldiers as Agniveers was necessary for keeping the armed forces young and combat-ready at all times. He rubbished the allegations made by opposition leaders that the Agnipath scheme was rolled out in June 2022 to save money being spent on pensions for retired armed forces personnel. This was Modi's first public response on the issue of Agniveer. He alleged that the opposition was misguiding youth about the Agnipath scheme. Modi's speech in Drass has made two points quite clear: One, there will be all-out action against terrorists, and Two, the Agnipath scheme will stay. During the last five years, the backbone of terrorist groups has been broken in Kashmir Valley and many terrorists have been eliminated. Pakistan is desperate and is trying to carry out attacks in the Jammu region by infiltrating terrorists. Attacks have been made by terrorists in Doda, Rajouri and other places.
Nearly a dozen terrorists have been eliminated. "Operation Sarp Vinash" is being carried out by armed forces in the forests of Doda to flush out terrorists hiding in the jungle. Nearly 7,000 jawans of Army, Air Force, CRPF and state police are carrying out this operation. Intelligence reports say more than 100 infiltrators pushed by Pakistan are hiding in the forest. It was in this context that the Prime Minister said that Pakistan has not learnt any lesson from the mistakes it committed in the past. On the Agnipath issue, Modi made the Centre's position quite clear. On the other hand, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that it was Modi government which had pushed the scheme despite what he called, objections from Army officials. Kharge alleged that Modi was misleading by making the remark that it was the Army which wanted the Agnipath scheme. AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, Modi must clarify whether Army jawans who won the Kargil conflict were not brave or young enough. The line and length of the remarks of Opposition leaders are almsot the same. They are trying to dilute the issue. What Modi said was that the government wanted to reduce the average age of Army soldiers by introducing the Agnipath scheme, and make it younger, but the Opposition tried to link it with the bravery and courage of Kargil martyrs. Several committees since 1977 have expressed concern over the ageing army.
The Subramanian committee set up after the Kargil conflict, had also recommended that the average age of army jawans should be reduced. Presently, the average age of our army is 32 years, while in the United States, it is 29, in Israel it is 21, and in Britain, it is 30 years. Soldiers working in the armies of these countries are retired at a young age. The average age of the armies across the world is 26 years. Most of the countries of the world want their armies to be lean and young. It was in this context, that the government introduced the Agnipath scheme at the request of the army. The decision was taken after conducting a study of the armies of 135 countries. There is nothing wrong with this. As far as giving jobs to Agniveers after four years of Army service is concerned, most of the BJP-ruled states like UP, MP, and Odisha, have already announced that they would reserve police jobs for Agniveers, and relax their maximum age limit. Central paramilitary forces like CRPF and CISF have also announced reservations for Agniveers. Every year, nearly 46,000 Agniveers will be absorbed into state police forces, while the Army will retain 25 per cent of the Agniveers in regular service. In other words, 34,500 Agniveers will retire every year and they can be easily given jobs in police forces. Agniveers who retired from the armed forces will get Rs 23 lakh each. So, to say that Agniveers retiring from the army will have an uncertain future is incorrect. Opposition is trying to create a fake narrative on the Agniveer issue.
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