India rules out talks with Pakistan except on POK, warns of harsh response

India's defence minister has said there are no talks with Pakistan currently planned, and that any future dialogue would be limited to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Rajnath Singh made the remarks on Sunday during Kargil Vijay Diwas at the Kargil War Memorial in Dras, in India-administered Ladakh. He also warned that India would respond harshly to any "misadventure" by Pakistan.

Sponsored

Singh said, "Our intention is clear. There will be no talks with Pakistan." He added that if talks were ever held, they would concern only Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which he described as part of India and illegally occupied by Pakistan. The comments came at a ceremony marking 27 years since the Indian Army forced Pakistani troops to withdraw from the Kargil peaks they had occupied.

The minister linked his warning to last year's Operation Sindoor, saying Indian forces had struck terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. He said India would use the same strategic approach again if faced with any new provocation. Singh also said India would no longer distinguish between terrorists and what he called their support structure.

The remarks are significant because they underline how strained India-Pakistan relations remain, even during a commemorative event focused on the 1999 Kargil conflict. Singh accused Pakistan of institutionalising terrorism as state policy and contrasted India's economic and technological progress with what he described as Pakistan's support for radicalisation and infiltration. His comments reflect a hardening public line from New Delhi on cross-border militancy and on the future of any bilateral engagement.

Sponsored

Kargil Vijay Diwas is observed each year to remember the Indian soldiers killed in the 1999 war in the high-altitude Kargil sector. The memorial event in Dras is one of the most closely watched military commemorations in India, often used by senior leaders to signal defence priorities and national security concerns. In this case, the setting gave added weight to Singh's message on sovereignty, deterrence and the status of Kashmir.

It remains unclear whether Singh's comments signal any immediate policy change or are intended mainly as a political and strategic warning. There was no indication of any new diplomatic channel with Pakistan, and no response from Islamabad was included in the supplied material. What to watch next is whether the remarks prompt any official reaction, and whether they affect the already limited prospects for dialogue between the two neighbours.

#India #Pakistan #RajnathSingh #KargilVijayDiwas #PakistanOccupiedKashmir