terror in J-K (With pix)By Manash Pratim Bhuyan and Priyanka TikooNew Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) Advocating a "politico-military"approach in dealing with the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat today called for politicalinitiative to go hand-in-hand with military operations in thestate.
Gen Rawat, who has followed a hard-line approach intackling terrorism, said the armed forces operating in thestate cannot be "status quoist" and must evolve new strategiesand tactics to deal with the situation.
In an interview to PTI, the Army chief said, "Thepolitical initiative and all the other initiatives must gosimultaneously hand-in-hand and only if all of us function insynergy, we can bring lasting peace in Kashmir. It has to be apolitico-military approach that we have to adopt."Rawat also asserted that there was room for ramping upheat on Pakistan to cut the flow of cross border terroractivities, clearly indicating that the Army will continue itspolicy of hot pursuit in dealing with militancy.
In October, the government had appointed formerIntelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its specialrepresentative for a "sustained dialogue" with allstakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir.
"When the government appointed an interlocutor, it iswith that purpose. He is the government's representative toreach out to the people of Kashmir and see what theirgrievances are so that those can then be addressed at apolitical level," the Army chief said.
Asked whether pressure could be increased on Pakistan toforce it to stop sending terrorists to the state, he said,"Yes, you cannot be status quoist. You have to continuouslythink and keep moving forward. You have to keep changing yourdoctrines and concept and the manner in which you operate insuch areas."Gen Rawat said the Army will have to evolve newstrategies and new tactics to deal with the situation. At thesame time, he said an overall approach was required to dealwith the Kashmir issue.
Since beginning of last year, the Army pursued anaggressive anti-terror policy in Jammu and Kashmir and, at thesame time, forcefully responded to all ceasefire violations bythe Pakistani troops along the Line of Control with a tit-for-tat approach.
"Military is only part of the mechanism to resolve theKashmir issue. Our charter is to ensure that the terroristswho are creating violence in the state are taken to task andthose who have been radicalised and are increasingly movingtowards terrorism are prevented from doing so," he said.
Gen Rawat said some youths continue to be radicalised andare joining militancy. The Army has been trying to maintainpressure on terror groups, he said.
The Army's aim is to ensure that it continues to maintainthe pressure on the terrorists and those fomenting troublein Kashmir, Gen Rawat said.
"But at the same time, we have to also reach out to thepeople," he said.
Asked whether the situation in Kashmir has improved sincehe has taken over as the Army chief a year ago, Gen Rawatsaid, "I am only seeing a marginal change in situation for thebetter.
"I do not think it is time to become over confident andstart assuming that the situation has been brought undercontrol because infiltration from across the borders willcontinue."The LoC has remained volatile in the last year. Accordingto official figures, 860 incidents of ceasefire violations byPakistani troops were reported in 2017 as against 221 the yearbefore.
India has also been effectively retaliating to Pakistanifiring and even crossed the LoC to punish Pakistani troops onseveral occasions as part of tactical operations. PTI MPB/PYKASKASK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.