New Delhi: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has made it clear that Indian army is a major force with which it is hard to fight. He also said that ‘Azadi,’ of Kashmir as demanded by youth from Jammu and Kashmir will never happen.
“I want to tell Kashmiri youth that Azadi is not possible. It would not happen. Don’t get carried away unnecessarily. Why are you picking up weapons,” the Army Chief said in an interview with The Indian Express. Mincing no words while speaking about the current situation in the Valley, he categorically said: “We will always fight those who seek Azadi, those who want to secede.( Azadi) is not going to happen, never.”
He also said that he doesn’t attach much importance to the number of terrorists who are killed in encounters with the Army. “These numbers don’t matter to me because I know this cycle will continue. There are fresh recruitments happening. I only want to stress that all this is futile, nothing is going to be achieved by them. You can’t fight the Army”.
However, the Army Chief said he is not happy with the killings. “We don’t enjoy it. But if you want to fight us, then we will fight you with all our force. Kashmiris have to understand that the SFs (security forces) haven’t been so brutal — look at Syria and Pakistan. They use tanks and air power in similar situations. Our troops have been trying their level best to avoid any civilian casualty despite huge provocation,’’ he said. “I know that the youth are angry. But attacking security forces, throwing stones at us isn’t the way”.
In a point blank manner he said that people are inciting security forces by pelting stones at them. “They are inciting security forces to become more aggressive.”
He said until June 2016, the Army continued with its soft approach in the state. But “everything turned upside down in a few days (after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter), he said, in his hard-hitting interview.
“The entire South Kashmir was out in the streets, throwing stones at us, attacking our posts. By October-November, I was getting messages that people say Azadi dur nahi hai (Azadi isn’t far away). Somebody was feeding this to people, telling them Azadi was around the corner. Our posts were being regularly attacked. Stones were being pelted at our men. We had to bring the situation under control. We couldn’t afford all that. We needed to tell people Azadi isn’t happening. We had to establish the writ (of the state),” the Army Chief added.
