Prime Minister Narendra Modi will celebrate Diwali on October 4 along with armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir. He is expected to visit Nowshera, Rajouri border post on the Line of Control (LoC) to join the celebration where a massive security operation is underway against Pakistan sponsored terrorists. Senior army officials will accompany him in the Diwali celebrations at the border post.
Modi has just returned to India after his five-day visit to Rome and Glasgow where he attended the G-20 Summit and the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference respectively.
Celebrating the festival of light with armed forces is the tradition that Modi had started after he became the prime minister in 2014. Last year, PM Modi was at the Longewala border at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Prior to this, in 2019, Modi had celebrated the festival with soldiers at the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prime Minister’s Nowshera and Rajouri visit for Diwali celebration has come at a time when security forces have launched a massive operation to eliminate Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorists, including the ongoing encounter in Poonch. The encounter at Bhimber Gali in Poonch is still going on and it has entered its 24th day. There were attempts of infiltration in Rajouri and Poonch that security forces foiled.
In the past few weeks, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed the targeted killings of minorities, both Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris, by terrorists. While Union Minister of Home and Affairs Amit Shah has already visited the Valley and supervised the ongoing operation. Quoting the officials, media reports said that the presence of Modi will boost the morale of the jawans on the ground and it will be a message for Pakistan that India will respond to any such proxy war in its own way.