Any misadventure by Pak Army will be repelled: General Rawat

Army chief General BipinRawat on Saturday said that any misadventure by Pakistan Army will be repelled with punitive response.

Speaking at an event on ’20 Years after Kargil Conflict’,General Rawat said, “Pakistan Army, time and again, resorts to misadventure,either through state-sponsored militancy or intrusions in India.”

   

“The Indian armed forces stand resolute and ready todefend our territorial integrity. Let there be no doubt that misadventures willbe repelled with a punitive response. The rise of non-state actors and thereadiness to use militancy and other irregular methods of fighting have becomea new norm,” he said, adding that “Addition of cyber and space domain haschanged the battlefield scenario.”

Rawat said, “Surgical strikes post-Uri and Balakot(terror attacks) have amply demonstrated our political and military resolveagainst terror. Any act of terror will not go unpunished.”

No intrusion by Chinese soldiers in Demchok sector

 Referring to themedia reports about Chinese soldiers entering into Demchok sector, the Armychief said, “There is no intrusion.”

His statement came amidst reports of Chinese soldierscrossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) last week after some Tibetans hoistedTibetan flags on the occasion of Dalai Lama’s birthday on 6 July.

The Army chief said both sides have different perspectiveson the Line of Actual Control. “There are gaps in between. So both sides patrol and come into eachother’s areas. Chinese come and patrol to their perceived LAC which we try andprevent. We try and attempt to reach out to LAC or based on the limit ofpatrolling given to us, we visit those areas,” he said.

South Block sources had on Friday said some 11 Chinese incivilian clothes arrived in two vehicles when Ladakhi villagers werecelebrating Dalai Lama’s birthday on July 6.

They then showed them banners and waited there for 30-40minutes but did not cross the Line of Actual Control, they said. The Tibetanswere celebrating the 84th birthday of the Dalai Lama. “At times, there arecelebrations that take place at the local level. Celebrations were going on ourside by our Tibetans in the Demchok sector. Based on that, some Chinese alsocame to see what was happening,” General Rawat said.

Asked whether the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA)soldiers were present during the 6 July incident, he said security officialsfrom both sides accompany civilians whenever they go the LAC.”When thecivilians go forward, obviously there will be PLA and when our civilians go toLAC, the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) or the Army will accompany them. Weare not going to allow the civilians to go the LAC without being monitored. So,both sides will monitor,” he said.

The matter was also raised in the flag meetings between thesecurity officials of the two countries, the Army Chief said.

“Everything is normal. You need to dispel this myththat there has been any kind of intrusion or activity by the Chinese which isdetrimental to our security,” he said.

“We have a very good working relationship with theChinese. Anytime such things happen, we have the local commanders talking toeach other. We are meeting regularly,” the Army chief added. India and China share a disputed border and thearmies of the two countries were engaged in a stand-off for 73 days in 2017 inDoklam.

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