NEW DELHI, Feb 23 (APP): Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor has said Security situation with Pakistan should improve after the general elections in Pakistan.
In an interview with Karan Thapar in the CNN-IBN programme Devil’s Advocate, General Deepak Kapoor while describing Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani a professional soldier said its reassuring to have a person who is a professional soldier as head of the army”.
When asked how he perceived the security threat India faces from Pakistan, he said “with the elections having taken place, I think the security situation in Pakistan, if it gets stabilized, should improve.
When the things were turbulent we were a little worried” and therefore we were vigilant on the borders. But now that elections have taken place and, hopefully, in the next few days they will have a government (and) we would be able to talk to a democratically elected government to resolve some of our differences.
When asked how he perceived the new Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, he said “I think General Kayani is a professional soldier and he has gone through the mill and come up as a capable officer and I think he would be able to handle Pakistani army professionally.”
He further said “some of the measures that he has taken, I think it’s reassuring to have a person who is a professional soldier at the head of the army.”
Replying to a question on the present state of “infiltration” across the Line of Control, he said that whilst numbers had declined attempts or bid to infiltrate had gone up in 2007.
Elaborating his point of view, General Kapoor 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’s 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.”
General Kapoor said during the recent turmoil and turbulence in Pakistan he was not worried that 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.
When asked about Chinese incursions as well as the difference in 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 its a matter of perception. The Chinese have a different perception of the Line of Actual Control as do we. When they come up to their perception we call it an incursion and likewise they do. And let me to tell you in 2007 the level of total number of incursions is somewhat similar to what it has been in the past. So the feeling that too many incursions have taken place into Indian territory is not right.”
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 “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’s 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 that.”
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’s 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’s 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 that the army “must only be used as a last resort” and 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”.