Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who was recently under media scrutiny for his controversial statements vowed on Saturday to not speak to the media for six months.
“I will not speak much. Because if I speak, people start looking for things (in it),” the India defence minister said, following criticism over comments he made on a range of different issues.
Parrikar, who has been in Goa since the past three days, attended a government function nearby, where he was asked to comment on certain issues, particularly the issue of target killings in Kashmir’s Sopore town and the Rafale deal. The former Goa chief minister, who rarely shies away from offering a comment to the media, said he was not going to “speak to the media for six months”.
The Indian defence minister’s statement claiming New Delhi would use terrorism to counter terrorism from other countries shocked many.
Pakistan expressed concern over Parrikar’s statement with the premier’s senior aide Sartaj Aziz claiming, “This statement [of Parrikar] only confirms Pakistan’s apprehensions about India’s involvement in terrorism in Pakistan.”
Parrikar had asserted that terrorists have to be neutralised only through terrorists. “India will take proactive steps to prevent a 26/11 type attack,” he had said.