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Thakre cautions government against threat from China, Pakistan

Bharatiya Janata Party president Kushabhau Thakre said on Sunday that India faced threats on borders with Pakistan and China, and that the government should remain vigilant.

Addressing members of the Raipur Press Club, Thakre said India had no intention of attacking its neighbours, though both Pakistan and China had earlier encroached on land belonging to India. ''We want to solve the bilateral problems through talks,'' he said.

Stating that China and Pakistan were trying to weaken India with the help of Western forces, he said India would not succumb to such pressures.

He, however, apprehended that China and Pakistan, both being friends, would try to attack India.

Thakre said on the one hand India had always been discouraged to develop nuclear weapons, while Pakistan had been clandestinely helped by China and other Western forces to develop a nuclear bomb. India was also discouraged to go ahead with its Agni and Prithvi missile programmes.

Stating that India would not compromise on its security, Thakre said India would go ahead with its Agni missile programme and induct it into its defence forces.

Thakre said while the nuclear countries had always been dissuading India from going nuclear, the United States had conducted about 2,400 nuclear tests, China 45, France 700 and the Australian government had crushed the Greenpeace movement.

UNI

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