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Can’t change overnight, says Gen Naravane on mistrust between India and Pakistan
Army Chief General MM Naravane said the onus of holding the ceasefire lies with Pakistan and underlined that other activities such as terror infrastructure including terrorist camps and presence of terrorists on the other side of the LoC were continuing.
Srinagar: Army chief General MM Naravane on Thursday said there have been very few incidents of violence or stone pelting in Kashmir and the ceasefire with Pakistan is holding on the Line of Control (LoC), adding that the onus of holding the ceasefire lies on Pakistan.
Addressing reporters during his two-day visit to Kashmir, General Naravane said all necessary steps for smooth conduct of Amarnath Yatra have been taken by the army, but the decision about the yatra will be taken by the civil administration.
On the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, which has crossed 100 days, the Army chief said they entered into an understanding with Pakistan at the end of February to observe a ceasefire along the LoC. “The ceasefire as of now is holding and the onus of holding the ceasefire is squarely on Pakistan. We are willing to observe the ceasefire as long as they do so,” General Naravane said.
He, however, said that other activities like terror infrastructure including terrorist camps and presence of terrorists on the other side of the LoC were continuing.
General Naravane said there has been decades of mistrust between India and Pakistan and the situation on that score cannot change overnight. “If the ceasefire continues in letter and spirit and they (Pakistan) stop pushing terrorists inside and foment trouble in India, then all the small steps definitely go to build up trust in the two countries,” the army chief said.
He said though the ceasefire is on, “there can be no slackening of our level of preparedness.” He added, “We have the CI (counter insurgency) grid to prevent any movement from across the LoC, we also have the counter terrorism grid in the hinterland and all the deployments are dynamic and dependent on situation on threat perception.”
The Army chief said the review of deployments is being done from time to time and if the situation permits, then definitely they could take recourse to pull out some troops from active deployments to rear areas. “They (troops) won’t be pulled all together,” he said.
The Army chief said the role of the army is to bring down the levels of violence to an extent where a civil administration and local security forces could focus on development of the region and J&K.
“The ultimate aim is to bring down the levels of violence so that peace and development can take place. I have been briefed by all the commanders on ground on the situation both on the Line of Control and hinterland. I am glad to say that all the parameters that we judge normalcy have seen great improvement. There have been very few terrorist initiated incidents. There have been hardly any cases of stone pelting or nil cases of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) in the recent past,” General Naravane said.
The army chief said all these are indicators of return to a sense of normalcy and people also want the same, which is a very good thing.
“In the context of return to normalcy, we are from our side prepared and have taken all the necessary steps for the smooth conduct of Amarnath yatra. The decision to conduct the yatra lies with the civil administration but we are ready from our side,” he said.
“My message to all, not only youth, would be that when there is peace and tranquility can there be development and when there is development, we will all prosper and they (youth) should shun path of violence as it’s not going to take us anywhere,” he said.
On the second day of his two-day visit, General Naravane also reviewed the security situation along the Line of Control.
The army chief was accompanied by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen YK Joshi and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen DP Pandey. They visited the formations and units, wherein the local commanders briefed the army chief on the existing security situation and the measures instituted to foil infiltration from Pakistan occupied Kashmir. On Wednesday, General Naravane also met J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
