Peace coming to Kashmir: Army chief

New Delhi, Jan 11

Ahead of the Army Day on January 15, Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande Thursday said that the situation and terrorist activities in Rajouri and Poonch in the last 5-6 months had been an issue of concern and because peace was coming in Kashmir, adversaries were encouraging proxy wars in the area.

“The situation and terrorist activities in Rajouri and Poonch in the last 5-6 months have been an issue of concern to us. By 2003, terrorism in this area was fully disseminated and peace was established there until 2017-18. Because peace is coming in the valley, our adversaries are encouraging proxy wars in the area. The Pakistan Army is trying to aggregate terrorism in the Rajouri Poonch area,” CoAS General Manoj Pande said addressing the annual news conference ahead of Army Day that would be held on January 15.

“As far as the situation in J&K is concerned, the ceasefire understanding along the LoC continues to hold. Even though we see infiltration attempts, which we have been able to thwart… We have a strong anti-drone mechanism in place to stop the use of drones to smuggle weapons and narcotics…. The area of Rajouri Poonch has seen increased terrorist activities. Support infrastructure for proxy tandems in the Rajouri Poonch sector from across the border continues…” General Pande said.

The Chief of Army Staff said that the security situation on the northern border was stable but sensitive.

“The situation on the northern border is stable but sensitive. We continue to talk to find a solution to address and balance issues between the two sides. Operational preparedness is very high, and deployment is both robust and balanced,” Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Pande said.

He said that the Indian Army signed contracts worth Rs 12,000 crore with private Indian firms.

“And we have major projects like light tanks and future-ready combat vehicles,” he said.

Gen Pande also spoke on Indo-Myanmar border security.

“The situation at the Indo-Myanmar border is of concern to us. You are aware of the activities of the Myanmar army, the ethnic armed organization and the PDF in the past couple of months, which has resulted in some of the Myanmar army personnel walking across about 416 of them to date. Also, some of the civilians from Bhutan are taking shelter both in Mizoram and Manipur. But what is of concern is that, because of the situation across the Indo-Myanmar border, we also have some of the insurgent groups who are feeling the pressure and who have now attempted to come onto our side of the border in the state of Manipur. That, combined with the situation in Manipur, is something we are keeping a close watch on. We have close to 20 Assam Rifle Battalions, which are deployed at the Indo-Myanmar border. There is also a talk of further strengthening our fence along the border…” he said. “With Bhutan, we have a unique bilateral relationship with mural trust and it transcends into the military domain as well. India and Bhutan share mutual security concerns, of which we are aware. We are closely monitoring the military talks and we are communicating with Bhutan.”