‘India needs strong leadership’

 Former Union Minister Jaswant Singh on Thursday said that historically, the border problem has remained unsolved with India’s neighbours-China and Pakistan.

 He was delivering the K Subrahmanyam Memorial Lecture on ‘The changing context of Indian border and National security’ at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS).

 “As the British left soon after India got independence, borders were not demarcated.

 This is the reason that till date India is facing a magnified border problem with China and Pakistan,” Singh told students.

 Dealing with a wide range of Indo-China and Indo-Pak issues he stressed on how border issues are an important issue of concern and should be taught at colleges as a subject.

 When students questioned him about whether China is trying to intimidate India by foraying into the Indian Ocean, Singh clarified, “No one can encircle or intimidate India.

 India and Indians have been unable to overcome the humiliation after the defeat in the 1962 war.

 The country currently needs strong leadership.

” Focusing on Pakistan’s growing engagements with India, he said that this will ensure that our security interests are taken care of.

 Speking about the Bangladeshi enclaves in the Indian side of the border, he said, “The problem of illegal migration of Bangladeshis is an issue that needs to be looked into and the cause of this problem is the non-definition of borders years ago.

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