Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for adventurism at border, defence minister Arun Jaitley says

NEW DELHI: Defence minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday issued a strong warning to Pakistan and said the neighbouring country will have to pay a heavy price if it did not stop its adventurism at the border.

"Pakistan is the aggressor, but it must realize that our deterrence will be credible. If Pak persists with this adventursim, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable," Jaitley said.

READ ALSO: We will not let the country down, PM monitoring border situation, Rajnath says

Asking Pakistan to immediately stop unprovoked firing at the border, Jaitley said there is a direct connection between firing at the border and infiltration.

The defence minister said India is a responsible nation and does not believe in attacking neighbours.

Ruling out any immediate talks with Pakistan, Arun Jaitley asked, "How can you have talks when there is firing going on at the border?"

READ ALSO: India's tough posture on border has been in place since June

Jaitley heaped praise on the armed forces for retaliating the Pak onslaught.

"Our forces have been doing a commendable job in the light of unprovoked firing by Pak," he said.

Earlier today, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said the defence forces were giving a "befitting" reply to the Pakistani onslaught and the country will not bow before anyone.

"I want to assure the people that we will not let down our country," Rajnath Singh said, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that "everything will be fine soon" on Pakistan border.

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan traded heavy mortar and gun fire along the international border with Pakistani troops targeting 60 outposts amd 90 villagers overnight in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, leaving eight people, including three BSF jawans, injured.

An injured being taken to hospital after firing from the Pakistani side at the border in Jammu on Wednesday. (PTI photo)

Pakistan Rangers shelled almost the entire 192-km border during the night. Nearly 30,000 people have been displaced following one of the worst violations of the 2003 ceasefire by Pakistan which has left eight people dead and 80 others, including nine security men, injured since October 1.

"Pakistani Rangers continued with unprovoked mortar shelling and heavy automatic weapon firing on BSF posts all along International Border (IB) since 8.45 last night", a BSF spokesman said on Thursday.

(With inputs from PTI)

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