Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj Pande on Thursday expressed concern over the situation at the Indo-Myanmar border and terrorist activities in the Rajouri-Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir as he provided insights into the prevailing security scenarios along India’s borders.
Speaking at the annual press conference ahead of Army Day, Pande also said that the situation at the northern border, particularly Ladakh, is ‘stable yet sensitive’.
“We continue to talk both at the military and diplomatic levels, as per established protocols and procedures to find a resolution to the balance issues which remain,” he said.
Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
The COAS assured that operational preparedness remained at a high level, with a robust and balanced deployment of forces.
On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, General Pande noted the continued adherence to the ceasefire understanding along the Line of Control (LoC). Despite infiltration attempts, the Indian Army successfully thwarted such efforts, he said, attributing their success to a strong anti-drone mechanism in place to prevent the smuggling of weapons and narcotics.
Gen Pande said there has been a drop in overall incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir but such incidents have increased in the Rajouri-Poonch sector.
“The situation and terrorist activities in Rajouri and Poonch in the last 5-6 months have been an issue of concern to us. By 2003, terrorism in this area was fully disseminated and peace was established there till 2017-18. Because peace is coming in the valley, our adversaries are encouraging proxy tanzeems in the area,” Gen Pande said, in an obvious reference to Pakistan.
Expressing concern over the situation at the Indo-Myanmar border, General Pande highlighted the impact of activities by the Myanmar army and ethnic armed organizations. He reported instances of Myanmar army personnel and Bhutanese civilians seeking shelter in Indian territories.
“We also have some of the insurgent groups who are feeling the pressure and who have now attempted to come onto our side of the border in the state of Manipur. That combined with the situation in Manipur is something we are keeping a close watch on. We have close to 20 Assam Rifle Battalions which are deployed at the Indo-Myanmar border. There is also a talk of further strengthening our fence along the border.”
In response to emerging challenges, General Pande outlined the induction of new technologies and the restructuring of artillery and electronic warfare units.
“As part of emergency provisions, we have been able to induct some new technologies and address domains of warfare. We have inducted better vehicles, drones and counter-drone systems. We have terrain-specific electronic warfare systems,” Gen Pande said.
“We have restructured our artillery unit. We also have restructured units of electronic warfare and electronic intelligence. We have started the process of reducing animals in our animal transport units and they are being replaced by drones…We have made a plan and optimise our strength by significant numbers and by 2027 we will achieve an optimisation of 1 lakh numbers. We have given the proposal to the government,” he added.
He also said that integration of Agniveers into the Army is moving forward well.
