New Delhi, April 7: India considers the entire world as a family and therefore, it is obviously affected by oppression and atrocities in any part of it, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday while talking about the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
Indian sensibilities were getting affected by whatever was happening in erstwhile East Pakistan, Singh said after launching a book, titled Heroes of 1971.
“We felt hurt due to the oppression and torture that was being perpetrated there and the way human rights were being violated,” he said.
Not only the people of India, those living in other parts of the world were also affected by what was happening in East Pakistan, the defence minister added.
“People felt that injustice is happening. At that time, India decided that this must be opposed. And therefore, India interfered in the matter,” he said.
India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war pave the way for the liberation of Bangladesh. India won the war to safeguard human values and not to rule there, Singh said. “We did not want to occupy even an inch of land of Pakistan…. It was a just war,” he added.
India is the only country in the world that considers as family members not just those living within its boundaries but people living across the world, Singh said. (PTI)
