Army ‘no’ to grievances on social media: Bipin Rawat

New Delhi: Referring to cases of jawans taking to the social media to air their grievances, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said on Sunday that jawans taking to the social media could be punished as their act lowered the morale of those guarding the frontiers of the country.

“If any jawan has any grievance, he has been provided with the proper forum to resolve his issues and maintain a balance. If you are not satisfied with the action, then you can contact me directly,” Gen. Rawat said.

“Aapne jo karwai ki hai aap iske liye apradhjanak hain, aur saza ke haqdaar ho sakte hain (You are violating rules by your act and you could be punished for that),” he said, referring to cases of jawans taking to social media to air their grievances. “It (airing grievances on social media) has an (negative) impact on brave jawans who are serving the country along the border,” he said.

The Army Chief was speaking at Army Day celebrations here where he presented gallantry medals to soldiers who had showed extraordinary courage while performing duty.

Siachen “miracle man” Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who survived miraculously for six days under a huge ice-and-snow debris after an avalanche hit his post before losing life to multiple organ failure, was also posthumously awarded the Sena Medal here.

Gen. Rawat also said that despite Pakistan’s continuous engagement in a proxy war against India, “we want to restore peace on the Line of Control... But we will not hesitate from giving a fitting reply in case of any ceasefire violation”.

On the terror menace, he said that in the last few months of 2016, the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir had turned very volatile. “Be it LAC (Line of Actual Control) or LoC (Line of Control), we will take the appropriate action and our soldiers are doing a commendable job at all fronts,” he said.

“On the northern front, India wants peace with China. Both sides are adopting confidence-building measures (CBMs) so that tensions on the border can be reduced. Despite transgressions on the LAC, the armies on both sides have improved on mutual coordination,” said Gen Rawat. Warning those who try disrupt the peace through terror activities, Gen. Rawat said “efforts to restore peace on the border must not be viewed as our weakness”.

The Army Day parade at the Field Marshal Cariappa Parade Ground saw marching contingents from six different regiments and a display of missile systems such as the Brahmos and Akash, besides combat demonstration by different schools of infantry which fired medium-range guns.

About 87 defence attaches from 35 countries, including the US, Russia, China, Israel and some African nations, were present at the event.