India can help if you can't handle terrorism alone: Rajnath Singh to Pakistan

JAIPUR: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said Pakistan can seek India's help if it cannot handle the fight against terrorism alone. "I want to ask the Pakistani prime minister (Imran Khan) that if in Aghanistan, a fight can be carried out against terror and Taliban with the help of the US, then, Pakistan can seek help against terrorism from India if it feels that it cannot handle it alone," he said. Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Mr Singh said Jammu and Kashmir was not an issue as it was an integral part of the country. "The issue is of terrorism, and Pakistan can discuss it," Mr Singh said. The Home Minister also accused the Congress of creating a crisis of distrust in politics and claimed there was a difference in their words and deeds. He asserted there has not been any major terrorist related incident in the country in over four years of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. "I do not want to claim that terrorism has stopped, but no major terrorist incident has happened in the country in last four-and-a-half years," he said. Terrorism is confined only to Kashmir, and even there the situation is improving, Rajnath Singh said adding that the Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir are being conducted successfully. "The government has brought Jammu and Kashmir into political process. As far as terrorism is concerned, there is no second thought that it is Pakistan sponsored," the Home Minister said. The Union minister asserted that the country and its borders are safe. Terrorism has reduced and the problem of naxalism will get eliminated from the country in the coming years, he added. Hitting back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi on his statement that surgical strikes were conducted during previous UPA regime as well, the Home Minister sought to know why it was kept a secret. "They are telling it today. Why the country was not informed earlier? If our army had shown its valour and strength then should this country not have any knowledge of this matter?" Mr Singh asked. "Why was the attempt made to keep the valour and strength of army hidden? Whose fear was it? I want to have an answer to this question," he said.