New Delhi: Terming the struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination as a ‘dirty war’ the Indian army chief Bipin Rawat in an interview with the media advocated for the innovative ways that could be employed (one of them being using human shield) to crush the on going agitation in the valley.
General Rawat further maintained that in order to boost the morale of the young officers of the army it became imperative to facilitate Major Leetul Gogoi for his inhumane act of using a Kashmiri youth as human shield while the court of inquiry was finalising its probe into the incident, said the media reports.
Equating the on going agitation in Kashmir valley with proxy war he stated that ”proxy war is a dirty war. It is played in a dirty way. The rules of engagements are there when the adversary comes face-to-face and fights with you. It is a dirty war… That is where innovation comes in. You fight a dirty war with innovations.”
Moreover, Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat is of the believe that if people in any country lose fear of the Army, then the country is doomed.
“Adversaries must be afraid of you and at the same time your people must be afraid of you” reads a quote from an interview given by Genral Rawat.
Whereas on the second instant he maintained that ”We are a friendly Army,” but in his next statement he stressed upon his believe that law and order can be restored by instilling fear of the army among the general public by saying ”when we are called to restore law and order, people have to be afraid of us.”
Furthermore, Genral Rawat presumably said that there was a ploy to break the trust between various security forces, and Major Gogoi could not have refused to provide security when polling agents had sought security assistance, reads The Tribune (TT).
“Tomorrow elections have to be held in Anantnag and similar things may happen. If the Army does not respond to call for assistance, then the trust between the people whom we are protecting, police and Army will break.
“That is something I cannot allow to happen. This is what the militants want. It can create a divide between the army and other security forces,” he claimed.
The Indian Army chief maintained that just four districts of south Kashmir were disturbed and it was incorrect to say the entire Valley had gone out of control, media sources said.