‘I pray no one gets neighbour like we have’: Rajnath Singh’s dig at Pakistan

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday, referring to Pakistan, said no country should get ‘such a neighbour’. This comes a day after Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties with India and severed trade ties.

“Our main concern is our neighbour. The problem is you can change our friends but it is not in your hands to change your neighbour. I pray that no one gets a neighbour like we have,” he said during his address to Army veterans at an event in Delhi.

Singh reiterated former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remark to state that no country can change its neighbouring nation.

On Wednesday, Pakistan cut trade ties and downgraded diplomatic relation with India after New Delhi abrogated special status to Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 of the Constitution.

On Tuesday, Parliament approved modification in Article 370 of the Constitution which provides subjects of the state with the special rights. It also cleared a bill to split the state into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Pakistan has also announced to approach the United Nation against scrapping of the special provisions.

India today called Pakistan’s actions an attempt to present an alarming picture to the world about the bilateral ties between the two neighbours and asked it to review its decisions.

Jammu and Kashmir, meanwhile, remains under strict security cover that curtails movement and communication, schools and colleges are also shut. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was on way to Kashmir, was stopped at Srinagar airport and sent back.