NSA Ajit Doval
NSA Doval on Agnipath Protests: Amid widespread violent protests over Agnipath scheme, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval not only has come out in full support of the Modi government's new military recruitment plan but has also ruled out the rollback of the scheme. Doval lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for showing political courage to take tough decisions to make the country secure and strong.
Allaying the apprehensions of the protesters over the short tenue of service, Doval said that the future of Agniveers will be secured after four years of serving in the armed forces considering the skills and discipline they will gain. He said that in manpower reorganisation, "we need a young, fit and agile Army". "India has a young population which needs to reflect in the Armed Forces also."
"There is a need to look at it from a perspective. Agnipath is not a standalone scheme in itself. When PM Modi came to power in 2014, one of his prime priorities was how to make India secure and strong. That required many avenues, many steps - a multitude of them," he told ANI on Tuesday.
Doval on being asked about alleged involvement of some coaching centers in violence over Agnipath scheme said, "FIRs lodged, accused identified, after due probe we can say who were the forces behind it. An investigation must be done and thoroughly so."
On Pakistan Doval said, "We can't have peace & war at the choice of our adversary. If we've to protect our interests, then we will decide when and with whom and on what terms we will have peace. We have good relations with our neighbours including Pakistan. We would like to have normal relations with Pakistan but the certainly tolerance threshold for terrorism is very low."
