Army Chief Gen.
Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag on Wednesday squarely blamed the Pakistani Army for having derailed the peace process a “number of times” in the past, even as he — when asked whether the Army had the capability to carry out a cross-border covert strike on militant training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) — replied confidently that the Army fully had the capability to carry out any government directions. “The Indian Army is ready and competent to carry out any task given to it,” he said.
Commenting on the Pathankot incident, Gen. Suhag also said that after deployment of the Army columns at the IAF airbase there, no terrorist had sneaked into the airbase. He said the NIA would probe whether militants had already sneaked into the airbase before deployment of the security forces following the receipt of intelligence inputs. Pointing out that there would be some “lessons learnt” from the Pathankot terror attack, the Army Chief clearly indicated that there was a Pakistani hand in it, pointing out that Pakistani medicines were also recovered from the attack site. The Army Chief also backed the controversial deployment of the NSG, saying it was done as there was always a possibility of a hostage situation since there were so many families of defence personnel at the airbase.
He said that the security environment facing the nation is becoming more “complex and dynamic” and added that at least 17 terror training camps continue to be active in PoK compared to 42 earlier. He said some of the camps were shut down few years ago due to international pressure. Gen. Suhag’s comments on the Army’s capabilities come just two days after defence minister Manohar Parrikar stressed on the need to give back pain inflicted on India by organisations and individuals.
“It (Pakistan Army) has done it (derailed the peace process) a number of times. I am not saying in this (Pathankot) connection...” Gen. Suhag said.
He also indicated that the six Pakistani terrorists could well have been hiding inside the Pathankot air base as he asserted that no one came in once the Army cordon was placed along the 24-km-long perimeter wall. He said it is a matter of “treason” if local help was indeed utilised as part of a drug smuggling racket to get the terrorists into Pathankot. He also rejected allegations about lack of coordination in response to the attack saying there was “complete synergy”.
