T'gana minister Uttam Kumar Reddy says ready to return to combat

Hyderabad, May 9 (IANS) Telangana’s Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who once flew MiG-23s as an Indian Air Force fighter pilot, said on Friday that he is ready to return to combat if the country ever needed the services of the reserved forces.

He believed that the Kashmir conflict would not truly end until India took back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Talking to mediapersons at Congress headquarters Gandhi Bhavan, he said the assault on tourists in Pahalgam left India no choice but to respond. He warned that any continued aggression from across the border could spell disaster for Pakistan. “No other nation is going to step in with military support,” he noted.

The Congress leader stated that if there’s a full-scale conflict and his services are needed, he would fight again.

Referring to Operation Sindoor, Uttam Kumar Reddy said India had every reason to hit terror hideouts in Pakistan after The Resistance Front, an outfit tied to Lashkar-e-Taiba, carried out the attack at Pahalgam.

The minister said the entire nation, including Jammu and Kashmir, stood together in condemning the killings in the name of religion.

On Operation Sindoor, he said that such strong responses are crucial if India ever hopes to achieve a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.

Uttam Kumar Reddy reflected on joining the armed forces at just 16. By 1982, he was flying MiG-21s, and later got behind the controls of the MiG-23 - a jet which a speed of more than twice the speed of sound.

“I was just 20, already a fighter pilot,” he said, looking back on postings in places like Uttar Pradesh, Srinagar, and Amritsar areas that have long been on the edge when it comes to national security.

--IANS

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