New Delhi: Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Saturday said the Indian Army’s message is clear that it will not allow any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo on the country’s borders to succeed.
In his address at the Army Day Parade, he mentioned that last year was extremely challenging for the Army as he cited developments on the northern borders with China, news agency PTI reported.
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Army Day is celebrated on 15 January to mark Field Marshal KM Cariappa as the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, who succeeded his British predecessor in 1949.
Addressing the Army Day Parade, General MM Naravane referred to the eastern Ladakh standoff and said that the 14th round of military-level talks between India and China was held to keep the situation under control.
He said that joint efforts at various levels have led to disruption in many areas which is a constructive step in itself, adding that efforts will continue to find a solution to the current situation on the basis of mutual and equitable security.
General Naravane emphasized on how the morale of the soldiers deployed on the snow-capped mountains for the security of India. The sky was touching.
“Our patience is a symbol of our confidence, but no one should make the mistake of testing it,” Gen Naravane was quoted as saying by PTI.
“Our message is clear, the Indian Army will not allow any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo on the country’s borders to be successful,” he said.
Gen Naravane also mentioned that the situation along the LoC (Line of Control) is better than last year but Pakistan is still harboring terrorists.
According to him, around 300-400 terrorists are waiting to infiltrate into India in training camps across the border, a total of 194 terrorists were killed in retaliation in the last one year.
“Efforts are on to smuggle weapons across the border through drones,” he said.
He also said that there has been progressive improvement in the interior areas of Jammu and Kashmir during the last two years.
Therefore, terrorist organizations from across the border are trying to create hurdles in the way of development and have stepped up their efforts, the army chief said.
“It is a part of their conspiracy to target non-local and poor labourers,” he said.
He said the security situation has improved significantly in the last one year due to active military operations in the Northeast.
Due to these operations, most of the terrorist organizations in the Northeast have declared ceasefire, he said.
According to him, the reduction in the number of troops to handle internal security is a sign of improvement in the situation.
Meanwhile, General Naravane said that India’s Myanmar border is very important from the point of view of security and Assam Rifles is paying due attention to it.
He said that the Army and the Assam Rifles, along with the state governments in the Northeast, are shaping the Central Government’s ‘Act East’ policy.
The Army Chief said that the Indian Army is taking concrete steps to modernize itself so that it can meet the current challenges and future threats.
“With top institutions like IITs, the Army is rapidly working on new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, unmanned systems, directed energy weapons and swarm drones,” he said.
The Chief of Army Staff also spoke about the plans to form a joint theater command with the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, adding that it is proceeding in a time bound manner.
“You will see a lot of transformational changes in the future,” he said.
He talked about the achievements of the Army personnel in the Tokyo Olympics last year.
He mentioned that 16 athletes from the Indian Army participated in last year’s Olympics and one of them (Neeraj Chopra) was successful in securing India’s first gold medal in athletics.
“It (winning the gold medal) is a golden moment in the sports history of our country,” he said.
(with agency input)
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