‘We Have Come A Long Way, Have Numerous Options At Our Disposal’: Army Chief On Response To 26/11 Like Event

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has said that the country has options other than a surgical strike in the event of a 26/11 like event during an interview to India Today.

“We've come a long way from those days. You saw the attacks in Uri, prior to this you saw the attacks in Manipur. When we responded in Uri, it was a message that it could have been more,” the army chief told India Today while answering the question related to Indian Army’s response to another 26/11 like attack.

He added that he is not in favour of war-mongering, but the Army is capable and ready to take action if the government gave orders. Rawat said that enemy would be prepared for a surgical strike in future as the strategy has been used once. This is the reason for having other options to respond to the enemy, and added that there are numerous ones at their disposal.

Speaking on the proxy war waged by Pakistan in Kashmir, he remarked that the losers in the conflict were people of Kashmir and Pakistan. He said that the current economic crisis and the lack of development in Pakistan was due to its international isolation. He remarked that a similar scenario was prevalent in Kashmir due to continued violence.

General Rawat spoke on several other issues including Punjab, China and the current scenario in Doklam plateau during the interview. Answering a question about his earlier remarks on ‘external linkages’ in Punjab, Rawat said that he was warning the army based on intelligence inputs.

On Doklam, the Army chief added that there were no untoward incidents in recent past and structures built by Chinese were for their own use. He added that troops on both sides of the Line of Actual control have been briefed not to confront each other in spite of differences.