Reserve right to pre-emptive hits on terror, Rajnath tells US

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday told the US that it reserves the right to respond and defend itself against terrorism as well as pre-empt and deter any further cross-border attacks from Pakistan, days after President Donald Trump effusively praised Pakistan army chief Asim Munir while hosting him at the White House.In a 20-minute telephonic conversation with US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth, defence minister Rajnath Singh also made it clear that India’s actions were “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and focused” on disabling terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and POK when it launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, sources told TOI. While India believes Pakistan has become a safe haven for terrorists as internationally banned terrorists enjoy immunity there, Trump had praised both Munir as well as PM Modi as “two very smart people” for ending May 7-10 hostilities.

Also read: Rajnath Singh speaks to US defence secretary Pete Hegseth; reviews defence ties, thanks US for anti-terror support

Deliver Tejas engines on priority, Rajnath tells US Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has continued with his rant against India, reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to providing support to the Kashmiri people for their “legitimate struggle”.Singh, on his part, told Hegseth that India appreciates the unwavering support extended by the US for its fight against terrorism. “On defence cooperation, the two agreed to further build upon the momentum of this critical and mutually beneficial partnership across all its pillars such as interoperability, integration of defence industrial supply chains, logistics sharing, increased joint military exercises and cooperation with other like-minded partners,” an official said.

Also read: Quad meeting: Pahalgam terror attack was economic warfare, says Jaishankar; rules out yielding to nuclear blackmailSingh asked Hegseth to ensure faster deliveries of the long-delayed General Electric GE-F404 engines for the indigenous Tejas-Mark 1A fighters as well as the early conclusion of the agreement to jointly produce the more powerful GE-F414 engines in India.The defence minister also pushed for the delivery of the six Apache heavy-duty attack helicopters that the Indian Army had ordered in a Rs 5,691 crore deal in Feb 2020 but is yet to get. “The six Apaches will now be delivered before this year ends,” another official said. The almost two-year delay in delivery of 99 GE-F404 engines by US firm General Electric, which Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had ordered for Rs 5,375 crore in Aug 2021, is one of the main reasons for not even the first Tejas Mark-1A fighter to be delivered to the IAF yet. After the 83 “improved” Tejas Mark-1A jets are delivered under the defence ministry’s Rs 46,898 crore deal inked with HAL in Feb 2021, another 97 of those jets for Rs 67,000 crore will also be in the pipeline.