The army’s aim is to maintain the pressure on terrorists and those fomenting trouble in the Valley but at the same time, we have to also reach out to the people. GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT, army chief
From page 01 NEW DELHI: Political initiative must go “hand-in-hand” with military operations in Jammu and Kashmir to bring peace, army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said on Sunday, and favoured ramping up military offensive to pile up heat on Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism in the state.
Gen Rawat said the armed forces operating in the state cannot be “status quoist” and must evolve new strategies and tactics to deal with the situation, which he feels is “marginally” better since he took over a year ago. In an interview to PTI, the army chief asserted that there was room for ramping up heat on Pakistan to cut flow of cross border terror activities, clearly indicating that the army will continue its policy of hot pursuit in dealing with militancy.
“The political initiative and all the other initiatives must go simultaneously hand-in-hand and only if all of us function in synergy, we can bring lasting peace in Kashmir. It has to be a politico-military approach that we have to adopt,” the army chief said.
In October, the government had appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative for a “sustained dialogue” with all stakeholders in the state.
“When the government appointed an interlocutor, it is with that purpose. He is the government’s representative to reach out to the people of Kashmir and see what their grievances are so that those can then be addressed at a political level,” the army chief said.
