By IANS
New Delhi : On the day the Indian and Chinese prime ministers met in Beijing and instructed their officials to set a deadline for “arriving at an agreed framework of settlement” of boundary dispute, the Indian Army chief said here Tuesday that incursions by Chinese troops across the frontier were “no cause for concern”.
“Have the incursions gone up phenomenally? That hasn’t happened. Overall, they are somewhat at the same level (as in previous years). There is no cause for concern,” Gen. Deepak Kapoor said at a press conference here a day ahead of Army Day Wednesday.
“We have a perception (of where the border lies) so do the Chinese. They carry out patrols up to their perception (of the boundary) and we carry out patrols up to our perceptions,” Kapoor added.
During the press conference, the army chief forthrightly responded to questions on a wide range of issues like terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country, modernisation of the army, and an upcoming tender for the purchase of 197 light helicopters.
On Kashmir, Kapoor maintained that while infiltration from across the border was at the same level as in previous years, the level of violence had fallen by 55 percent from that of last year – but the time was still not ripe for reducing force levels in the state.
“We have to differentiate between a situation that is better (than in previous years) and one that is all right. Since the infiltration (into Kashmir) is orchestrated from outside, it is, therefore, not appropriate to reduce force levels,” the army chief contended.
Kapoor firmly ruled out deploying soldiers on anti-terror operations in the Maoist-affected steps but said the army had taken other steps to enable the police and paramilitary forces effectively perform their job.
“We have trained 85 companies (100 men each) of the police and paramilitary forces. Another 45 companies will be trained by June. In this way, we have built a large reservoir of forces to tackle the Naxalite (Maoist) menace,” he added.
“Dealing with Naxalism is in the domain of the police and paramilitary forces. The army is the weapon of last resort. It cannot be the weapon of first resort. Therefore, it is only that we enable the police and paramilitary forces to tackle the menace by assisting them through training,” the army chief explained.
Kapoor also admitted to delays in the transfer by Russia of technology for produce the T-90 main battle tank (MBT) in India but expressed confidence the issue would soon be resolved.
“Transfer of technology is a complex process due to different perceptions on either side on what exactly this involves. There have been delays but in the long run, the transfer will take place and indigenous production of the tank will commence,” he added.
India had purchased 310 of the tanks in 2001 and was to produce under licence another 1,000 T-90s. However, delays in the technology transfer prompted India to sign a contract with Russia in 2006 for 347 tanks to ensure adequate force levels.
On the helicopters, Kapoor said the army would soon float a fresh global tender for the machines after the previous one was cancelled due to perceived wrongdoing in the selection process.
The army had zeroed in on the Eurocopter Fennec and one round of price negotiations had also been conducted when the process was abruptly halted last June when it was discovered that Eurocopter had sent the civilian version of the machine instead of the military one for evaluation.