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Indian army chief praises Gen Kayani

By Mariana Baabar

ISLAMABAD: Indian Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor has showered praise on his Pakistani counterpart General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. In an interview with CNN-IBN programme “Devil’s Advocate”, even the usual conservative and reluctant Indian army chief told the television channel that he finds the Pakistani army chief a capable officer. “I think General Kayani is a professional soldier. He has gone through the mill and came up as a capable officer. I think he would be able to handle the Pakistan Army professionally. Some of the measures that he has taken, I think it is reassuring to have a person, who is a professional soldier at the head of the army,” Kapoor stated. The interview and the praise for Kayani came at a time when the new government has not assumed power in Islamabad. When asked to comment on this praise from the ‘enemy’, Director General ISPR, General Athar Abbas replied: “Actually neither have I seen the interview on television nor read the transcript, so it would not be correct to give my comments.” The Indian army chief also did not have any qualms while commenting on the political situation in Pakistan. When questioned, he replied: “With the elections now having taken place, I think the security situation in Pakistan, if it now gets stabilised, should improve. When the things were turbulent we were a little worried ... and, therefore, we were very vigilant on the borders. But now, hopefully, they will have a government in the next few days (and) we would be able to talk to a democratically elected government to resolve some of our differences.” General Kapoor said that during the recent turmoil and turbulence in Pakistan he was not worried that the Pakistan Army would carry out adventurous action against India to divert attention from troubles at home. “With the kind of commitment the Pakistan Army has on its western borders as well as within the country, the possibility of this kind of adventurism would not be very high,” he said. Kapoor, to a query, had said: “Let me give you a comparison between 2006 and 2007. In 2006 the infiltration was approximately 343 as per our count. In 2007 it was 311. So there is a marginal decline so far as infiltration numbers are concerned. But as far as the attempts or bids (are concerned) they were slightly higher in 2007.” The spokesman at the Foreign Office, when asked to comment on Kapoor’s remarks regarding allegations of infiltration into the Indian Held Kashmir from across the LoC, brushed aside this assessment. He said: “We have always maintained that Pakistan has never been involved in the crossings at the LoC. Pakistan’s position continues to be that we support the people of Kashmir politically, morally and diplomatically, and this will continue even in the future.” APP adds: When asked about alleged Chinese incursions as well as the differences on infrastructure at the Arunachal Pradesh border between China and India, the Indian army chief said: “I think a degree of misperception has been built on this issue of incursions; first and foremost it is a matter of perception. The Chinese have a different perception of the Line of Actual Control as we do. When they come up to their perception we call it an incursion and likewise they do. And let me tell you, the level of total number of incursions in 2007 is somewhat similar to what it has been in the past. So the feeling that too many incursions have taken place into the Indian territory is not right,” he added. Referring to the differences in infrastructure “road and railway development” between the Indian and Chinese side of the border in Arunachal Pradesh, that this gave China “an additional capability to bring in additional troops”, he said adding: “There is a disparity and we are seriously looking into it and trying to change that.” Elaborating his point, he said: “It gives them an additional capability to bring in additional troops if and when they want to bring in. So that is an area where we need to be on an equal footing. The fact that our infrastructure is not so well-developed is a fact; there is a disparity and we are seriously looking into it and trying to change it.” Responding to another question that satellite technology gave India ability to see deep across the Line of Actual Control into the Chinese side and this has helped India overcome the fact that China can move additional troops to the border faster than India, he said: “Whilst that is a matter of concern, the fact is that if and when they move (troops) there are also today images available through the means of satellite. Whenever any such movement takes place there is an ample opportunity for (advance) notice to be able to meet such a challenge if and when it does happen, the ability to look deeper across the Line of Actual Control is today much greater.” Speaking about the Chinese military build-up and the so-called “string of pearls”, a circle of China’s military installations stretching from Burma and Bangladesh in the East, through Tibet in the North, down through Pakistan and Gwadar in the west and into the Indian Ocean with Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, General Kapoor went out of his way to state that “every one of the bases that the Chinese may have may not necessarily be seen as an attempt to encircle India.” However, he added that all of this was collectively borne in mind when India does its strategic planning. When asked about the use of army to control internal insurgency, he spoke about the increasing use of the army to handle internal insurgencies or communal disturbances and said the army “must only be used as a last resort”. He added: “It should be used for a minimal period.” The army chief said: “When our troops are called out for counter-insurgency operations, it does happen at the expense of training, which we do for war against an enemy.” He was also concerned that repeated use of the army could undermine its deterrence effect.

Courtesy The News

 

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