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Pulwama attack: We are ready to perform our role, says Southern Army Commander in Pune
Lieutenant General SK Saini, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief; Southern Command was speaking on the sidelines of the Southern Command investiture ceremony held at AFMC
Army is prepared to take any challenge for the security of the country, whether it be dynamic external challenges or attempts by inimical forces to undermine the internal stability of the country, we are always ready and whatever the contingency comes up, we will be able to perform our role,” said Lieutenant General SK Saini, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief; Southern Command, when asked about the operational capability of the command with respect to the Pulwama attack.
Forty CRPF jawans were killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on February 14.
“As far as Southern Command is concerned, which is the largest command and whose area of responsibility is strategically important, it is ready to discharge its assigned mandate and fulfill its constitutional obligations with its current capabilities,” added the Southern Army Commander, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Southern Command investiture ceremony held at the Dhanwantri auditorium, Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), on Tuesday.
When asked if the morale of troops has been affected due to the Pulwama attack, Lt Gen Saini said that the morale of the army will always be high. Talking about suicide attacks, like the one in Pulwama, and failure of security mechanisms, Lt Gen Saini said that the basic premise of any security mechanism is that anybody who enters, will want to get away.
“However, in case of a suicide attack that assumption is undercut and the person who is launching the suicide attack, does not want to go back, so, that is why they are able to defeat the security mechanisms and other drills and measures that are put in place. Nonetheless, the strategy to combat the menace of suicide attacks is continuously revised based on the trends that emerge and these trends usher in refinement in our operating methodology, training and other procedures,” he explained.
He further added, “The incident in Pulwama caused widespread damage because the amount of explosives in the vehicle was phenomenal. It is important for us to ensure that terrorists trying to infiltrate are blocked and eliminated before they come to the reception areas and reach deployment sites.”
On Kashmir as an issue in and of itself, Lt Gen Saini who has served extensively in insurgency-hit areas and conducted counter-terrorism operations, said that in any conflict, there are two major influences. “First is the external factor and second is the internal factor. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the external drives overwhelm the internal influences and that is the problem there and hence, we have not been able to solve it, like we have solved in other areas,” said Lt Gen Saini.
The General Officer also spoke about modernisation of weapon systems and how the command’s military capability has to have the ability to fight across a spectrum of conflicts, which is leading to induction of better weapon systems and technology.
Investiture Ceremony
The Southern Command investiture ceremony was held at the Dhanwantri auditorium, AFMC. Lt Gen Saini felicitated eight officers, one junior commissioned officer and ten other ranks with the Sena Medal (Gallantry), including two posthumous awards, which were collected by the next of kin of the awardees. In addition, seven Sena Medals, One Bar to Vishisht Seva Medal and 12 Vishisht Seva Medals were also awarded for distinguished service. The Army Commander also bestowed unit citations to 19 units of Southern Command for their meritorious and outstanding performance.
Restructuring in the army
The Southern Army Commander also spoke about the massive restructuring currently taking place in the army. “The first restructuring was initiated by a committee of experts which was constituted by the Ministry of Defence. It had two aims - the first was to increase the combat efficiency of the army and second was to rebalance the budget between capital and revenue expenditure - so based on that a number of measures were suggested, which also included winding up of non-core functions, which were redundant as far as logistics was concerned. Based on that a number of units have already been disbanded, some are in the process of disbandment and also massive re-organisation is taking place to optimise the manpower so that we can have more teeth and reduce the tail,” he said.
