STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: On his maiden visit to Jammu and Kashmir after taking charge, new Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Thursday reviewed the security situation and favoured a dynamic strategy to handle the “proxy war”.
Rawat, who visited some forwards areas in Akhnoor and Rajouri sectors and interacted with troops, commended the soldiers for “strongly reciprocating to the unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan”.
The army chief began his three-day tour by visiting the Udhampur-based Northern Command where he was briefed by Lt Gen Devraj Anbu.
“The army chief reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also operational preparedness of Northern Command at a high-level meeting,” officials said.
General Rawat lauded the role of the Northern Command in restoring peace and normalcy during the recent unrest, they said.
“We need to evolve a dynamic strategy to handle the proxy war and defeat enemy’s nefarious designs in Jammu and Kashmir,” the army chief said.
Gen Rawat flew to 16 Corps headquarters based in Nagrota and visited some forwards areas in Akhnoor and Rajouri sectors where he interacted with troops.
Praising the soldiers for responding effectively to ceasefire violations, the army chief has said, “Every soldier of our army plays an important role towards security of the nation because it is the contribution of every soldier that makes the army efficient and strong.”
Northern command looks after the operational command of Jammu and Kashmir and Line of Control (LoC), Actual Ground Position Level (AGPL) with Pakistan and Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Ladakh.
Gen Rawat will be visiting Srinagar and Siachen during his tour. He will also be visiting formations at Kupwara and Anantnag, where he will be briefed about the prevailing security situation and will interact with officers and men, the officials said.
Gen Rawat took charge on December 31, succeeding Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, who retired after 42 years of service.
Gen Rawat was commissioned in the 5th Battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1978 from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and has vast experience in high altitude warfare and counter-insurgency operations.
He commanded an infantry battalion along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector, a Rashtriya Rifles Sector and an infantry division in the Kashmir Valley, a Corps in the eastern theatre and the Southern Command.
Gen Rawat has held important staff appointments at Directorate General of Military Operations and Military Secretary’s Branch at Army headquarters.
‘Locals joining militancy not happy situation’
New Delhi: Plans are on the anvil to bring in a shift in the counter-insurgency strategy in Kashmir in which “false” propaganda inspiring youth to take up arms will be targeted rather than individuals alone, says new Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat.
He is also concerned at the rising number of Kashmiri youth joining militancy.
Gen Rawat, who has experience in handling the Kashmir militancy, said that unlike naxalism in which locals are joining due to feeling of deprivation, it is not the case in Kashmir which has been under the siege from Pakistan-backed insurgency since late 1980s.
In an interview to PTI, he emphasised that the “false propaganda” and developments in the Middle East has affected some of the local youth and that is why one finds “more and more educated youth” getting driven towards militancy. “When the local youth join insurgency and pick up gun it is a matter of concern because our own countrymen getting involved in insurgency is not a happy situation,” Gen Rawat said.
Since the killing of Hizb-ul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8last year, 59 local youth have joined militant groups as per official figures though security experts say the figure is much higher.
Gen Rawat questioned if the local youth in Kashmir are getting into insurgency because of feeling of deprivation, which he said was happening in other areas.
“Is it similar to what is happening with naxalism? It is not. It has something to do with the false propaganda that is being propagated. I think we need to reach out to people.
Rather than seeing them as targets, we need to sympathise with them and undo the kind of false propaganda that is being spread among the youth,” he said. The army chief said in insurgency it is always said that people are the centre of gravity but he would like to change that.
“I would like to bring out a shift in the centre of gravity by saying it is the propaganda, which is fuelling the insurgency that needs to be the centre of gravity. Target the propaganda that is leading to the fuelling of the insurgency”.
He said it is important to understand as to why local militancy is gaining ground as Kashmir has seen the time when they had terrorists coming in from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and besides from other countries.
“Now we find that some local youth have also started picking up the gun. This has got to do more with the social media and what has been happening in Middle East. A lot of propaganda has been generated by some of the unwarranted Islamic organisations who are trying to interpret Islam in a very incorrect manner with inaccuracies,” he said.
Gen Rawat said this is leading to a fervour among some of the youth who are getting carried away by the messages that are coming through the social media, internet and other means that are available.
He said some of the local youth have got drawn into this and the “adversary” is cashing in.
“This unwarranted Islamic propaganda that is going on is what has been cashed on and further spread by our adversaries across,” he said.
Discourse shifting to ‘primacy of Islam’ over ‘Azadi’: Army
Hyderabad: A top Indian Army official on Thursday said the “discourse” in Jammu and Kashmir is shifting to “primacy of Islam over Azadi” adding to complexities in dealing with sectarian faultlines in the border state.
“…Jammu and Kashmir indeed continues to be a challenge and it’s being dealt with; it’s getting a little more complex as slowly the discourse, as indeed the entire thrust, is taking a shift towards a primacy of Islam over Azadi. So, that clearly adds a fairly complex dynamic to stabilising the nation as it were,” Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning & Systems), Lieutenant General Subrata Saha, said.
He has also served as General Officer Commanding 15 Corps, Srinagar. He was speaking at a seminar on “leveraging defence expenditure as a tool for nation building”, organised by the College of Defence Management here.
Giving a case study on Jammu and Kashmir vis-a-vis annual defence expenditure in border areas, Lt. Gen Saha said about Rs 7,516 crore are being spent every year on border roads, infrastructure and other operational works in that State. Noting that the annual budget of Jammu and Kashmir is Rs 64,669 crore, he said “approximately 12 per cent (or Rs 7516 crore, which is more than double the most revenue-generating power development department in the State at Rs 3,674 crore) addition to the State budget happens because of Armed Forces”. Jammu and Kashmir has a population of 1.42 crore. About 2.6 lakh Armed Forces personnel deployed in the state contribute 12 per cent of state budget. “So, that’s the kind of financial contribution of the Armed Forces into a border State, as it were,” Gen Saha added.
