UN report motivated: Gen Rawat

NEW DELHI, June 27: Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat today dismissed the recent UN report on alleged human rights violations in Kashmir as “motivated” and asserted that Indian Army’s record in this regard is “absolutely above board”.
“I don’t need to speak about the human rights record of the Indian Army. It is well known to all of you, it is well known to the people of Kashmir, and to the international community,” Gen Rawat told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on cyber security here.
“The human rights record of the Indian Army is absolutely above board,” he said.
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In a report released earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Council talked about alleged human rights violations in both Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and sought an international inquiry into these cases.
“I don’t think we should get too concerned about the report. Some of these reports are motivated,” Gen Rawat said today.
Earlier, the MEA had also discarded the report saying, “India rejects the report. It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question the intent in bringing out such a report.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had also said the report was “overtly prejudiced” and that it sought to build a “false narrative”.
Meanwhile, at the cyber security event today, the Army chief stressed on exploiting cyber space for the advantages of defence forces. “We must also develop niche capabilities to disable the adversaries’ system.”
Noting that almost all the systems, be it weapons, equipment, ammunition that are used in the armed forces employ some kind of technology which takes advantage of the cyber space, Rawat said this also makes them vulnerable to the attacks from adversaries.
The cyber space, he stressed, is not only important in conventional warfare, but it is also equally relevant in the sub-conventional warfare or proxy war.
“Today, the terrorists operating against us from across the borders are very tech-savvy. They are exploiting cyber space for their advantage. If we don’t stay ahead of them, we will never be able to get over the phenomena of terrorism,” Rawat said.
He also cited the example of how China is ramping up its capabilities in the cyber warfare.
Meanwhile, Rawat stressed on exploiting cyber space for advantage of defence forces, saying the “tech-savvy” terrorists operating from across the borders are using it for their benefit and if the armed forces don’t stay ahead of them, they may never be able to overcome terrorism.
Addressing a conference on cyber security here, the Army chief said the cyber space is important not only in conventional warfare, but is equally relevant in the sub-conventional warfare or proxy war.
“We must also develop niche capabilities to disable the adversaries’ system. Today, the terrorists operating against us from across the borders are very tech-savvy. They are exploiting cyber space for their advantage. If we don’t stay ahead of them, we will never be able to get over the phenomena of terrorism,” Rawat said.
He also noted that China is ramping up its capabilities in the cyber warfare.
Addressing the conference, Lt Gen Satish Dua, who is the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), said there was a need to tweak the defence strategy and factor in cyber threat.
“Radicalisation is the most potent by-product of cyber warfare. Terrorist organisations have moved their propaganda online,” Dua said.
Citing an example of Burhan Wani, whose killing in an encounter with the security forces in July 2016 led to an unrest in the Kashmir valley, Dua said the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, was a creation of social media.
The 22-year-old Wani was a poster boy for militancy in the Valley.
“To overcome other inadequacies, they used this system (cyber space) very nicely. Social media was used to build a Robinhood kind of image of Burhan Wani and eventually when he was eliminated, we saw the kind of unrest in Kashmir, in the Valley…. (it) was unprecedented a couple of years ago. And all started with this creation of social media,” Dua said.
Prior to his current posting, Dua was General Officer Commanding of the Army’s strategic Chinar Corps (15 Corps) responsible for guarding the Line of Control in Kashmir. (PTI)

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