‘Partition on religious lines was historic mistake’

New Delhi: India won the direct war against Pakistan in 1971 and it will also win the ongoing indirect war against Pakistan-induced terrorism, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday. The 1971 war showed that India’s division -- at the time of its independence from the British rule -- in the name of a religion was a “historic mistake”, he said. “Pakistan wants to break India by promoting terrorism and other anti-India activities,” he said at the inaugural ceremony of ‘Swarnim Vijay Parv’ to commemorate India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war. “We won the direct war and I can fully assure that we’ll win the indirect war too,” he added. The 1971 war, Singh said, “tells us that the partition of India on the basis of religion was a historic mistake. Pakistan was born in the name of one religion but it could not remain one. After the defeat of 1971, our neighbouring country is constantly waging a proxy war in India.”—(PTI)