China exerting pressure on Indian border but troops will not allow our territory to be intruded: Army Chief

New Delhi, January 12: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday while acknowledging that China is exerting pressure on the Indian border said that security forces are dealing with it and will not allow our territory to be intruded.

 

Notably, while addressing an annual press conference Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that though China is a powerful country we are not a weak nation. He accepted that China is exerting pressure on the Indian border but further vowed that Indian Army will not allow our territory to be intruded.

COAS said, "At the Military level the time had come for India to shift focus to its northern border. The country is capable of handling China's assertiveness. China is a powerful country but we are not a weak nation." Further recognizing the threat posed by China on the border, General Bipin Rawat said that the troops are ready to tackle any aggressive manoeuvre by Beijing.

General Bipin Rawat also stated that if things get escalated in Doklam then Indian troops are prepared to handle the situation. The Army Chief also added that the security forces now need modern weapons and technology and get ready for future wars. He also reiterated to get those systems that are best suited for requirements of troops.

On protecting Indian borders, he said, “We are concerned about cyber and information warfare and we will have to have good firewalls and systems.” “We need to have capacities to ensure that ammunition can move from one sector to another and we are focusing on it and we also need to build capacity to move forces from western sector to northern sectors,” he added.

Referring to the situation of Kashmir, the Army Chief noted that the counterinsurgency operations will be shifted to northern areas this year. He said, “In 2017, our focus of the operations was in South Kashmir. This year it will shift to North Kashmir's Baramulla, Pattan, Handwara, Kupwara, Sopore and Lolab and some northern areas of Bandipore so that the infiltration can be thwarted there.”

“We may have neutralized several terrorists but we have also caught 39 of them alive because we wanted to give them a second chance,” he added. On the ceasefire violations and cross-border firing in Jammu and Kashmir, General Bipin Rawat said that India is ready to retaliate against any threat and will continue the approach till it sees a decrease in violations.

General Bipin Rawat also said, “The casualties which Pakistan has suffered are three to four times more than we did. Pakistan is sending messages regularly to return to the ceasefire.” “We are ready, but we will continue till we see a decrease in ceasefire violation,” he added.

Referring to the US warnings to Pakistan over its handling of terrorism, General Bipin Rawat said that India will have to wait and see its impact. "Terrorists are a disposable commodity in Pakistan and the Indian Army approach has been to ensure that it feels the pain," he said.

He also said that threat of the use of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear, CBRN weapons is becoming a reality, particularly from the non-state actors.