DRASS, July 26:
The Army today said there is a possibility that the militants operating in the Af-Pak border will be diverted to Kashmir once the US troops withdrawal begins and called for preemptive measures to check this.
“It is quite likely that the terrorists who are being used there, who are carrying out terrorist activity on the borders of Afghanistan-Pakistan, some of them could be diverted to our border…We cannot rule out this possibility,” General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command Lt Gen K T Parnaik told reporters at the Kargil War memorial here, 150 kms from Srinagar.
The Army commander said the impact of what happens in Kashmir after US military withdraws from more than a decade of war in Afghanistan is an “open source debate”.
“US drawdown from Afghanistan is an open source debate which is going on and not only the Army, but intelligentsia, the Government sources, the civil institutions are all saying that once the drawdown starts the possibility of the focus slowly shifting from Afghanistan to other regions will always be there,” Lt Gen Parnaik said.
He said the Army needs to take “caution” so that it is not caught “unaware” from the fallout of the Afghan situation.
“We need to take caution, we need to take preemptive action and we need to put things in place that should this happen we are not caught unawares…As a nation, as an Army, as a State we need to be cautious, should that happen we should be able to take preemptive action and not let it affect us,” he said.
The Army commander said the surge of militants from Afghanistan into Kashmir may also lead to renewal in the militant tactic of launching suicide attacks.
“…The residual terrorists who are present in the State do not have capability of Fidayeen (suicide raids)…But when we relate it to possibility of more terrorists coming from the Afghan border, there is possibility of infiltration through other borders. This situation will manifest in depending on how the adversary view the events here,” Gen Parnaik said.
The US military withdrawals from Afghanistan is scheduled from 2014.
Gen Parnaik also said that the decision to go into a “hot pursuit” after militants by crossing the Line of Control has to be taken at the national level.
“Hot pursuit is an issue of national concern, it is a decision which has to be taken at the national level,” he said.
Since the 1999 Kargil war, Gen Parnaik said the Army has “come a long way” and assured that a “Kargil like situation will never be repeated”.
“After Kargil (war), we ensured that the force levels here were increased, we are holding the defences in a very deliberate and strong manner. So I want to assure that a Kargil like situation will never be repeated,” he said.
He said civilian witnesses and members of other security forces, who are connected to the Pathribal and Machil alleged fake encounters, will be allowed to depose before the Army inquiry into these cases.
“We will go strictly as per the rules…There will be no short cuts, we will be transparent and will ensure that every person who was involved is asked to depose in the inquiry. Therefore, witnesses will not only be from Army, but they will be civilians, they will be from other security forces… whosoever was involved,” Lt Gen Parnaik said.
“The Army has taken over both the Pathribal and Machil cases from the magistrate as per the directions of the Supreme Court and will proceed against the people under the provisions of the Army Act and Army rules,” he said.
Brig Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brajendra Pratap Singh, Major Sourabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan were charge-sheeted by the CBI in 2006 for killing five civilians at Pathribal in Kashmir valley and later dubbing them as foreign militants.
As per the CBI investigation, the five civilians were killed and branded as militants days after 35 Sikhs were massacred in the nearby Chattisingpora village.
Three civilians were killed in an alleged fake encounter at Machil in 2010 and later branded as foreign militants.
Lt Gen Parnaik said the Army has already began contacting witnesses. “The process of getting the witnesses collected has already commenced,” he said.
On China, the Army commander said they are “well aware” about the Chinese “notion of becoming a regional and a global power”.
“As a part of their efforts to rise to that status they have taken a lot of steps. They have built infrastructure, they have made inroads into our neighbouring countries…We need to be looking at it from the point of view of ensuring that this kind of relationship does not result in any problem to us on our borders or to our security,” he said.
“Otherwise, India is a large nation. We have capability, we have good leadership and I am sure that at the highest level in the political and diplomatic areas we are doing enough to ensure that we take care of the methods that are being applied from across,” Lt Gen Parnaik said.
He said the solution to the border dispute with China will “come only through talks”.
“The solution will come only through talks, and the situation now is not at all worrisome,” he said.
The Army commander said the issue of Assam, which has been hit by ethnic strife, needs to be found a “lasting solution”.
“Unless they find lasting solutions, some of these issues have the habit of cropping up again and again. So I am sure that all the necessary actions are being taken to resolve those issues,” he said.
Lt Gen Parnaik said that Jammu and Kashmir Government and Army were on the “same page” on the issue of AFSPA.
“Army, specially northern command, does not have any issue. As far as I am concerned we are on the same page as the State Government. AFSPA is an issue over which the Army has always given professional advice,” he said.
He said the “need of hour today” in the State is to continue to “dominate the situation”.
He said this year so far 40-50 “small and big” infiltration attempts have taken place from across the Line of Control.
“In 2012 so far, I think they have made 40-50 small and big infiltration attempts. But, according to MAC figures there have been 14-15 infiltration attempts till June this year in which 35-38 infiltrators have succeeded to infiltrate,” he said. (PTI)
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