Peace Returning To Jammu And Kashmir After Article 370

Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Friday asserted that peace was returning to the Kashmir Valley after the Centre’s move in August revoking special status to the region, but Pakistan-backed terrorists were making infiltration attempts every day.

General Naravane is expected to visit the Siachen glacier next week on his first outstation tour after becoming the army chief on December 31.

“Terror activity and stone-pelting have reduced drastically. The law-and-order situation is improving and we expect it to improve further…There are 200-250 terrorists waiting to cross over into J&K. Infiltration attempts are being made every day, but we are thwarting them,” Naravane told reporters.

The army chief said that the September 2016 surgical strikes against terror pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, followed by the February 2019 bombing of a terror facility in Pakistan’s Balakot, sent out a strong message to the neighbour that India can take down terror infrastructure and launch pads and “you cannot operate with impunity.”

Asked to comment on what India’s surgical strikes achieved given that the Balakot terror facility has been reactivated, the army chief said even when a target is destroyed during war, it is later reconstructed. “We destroyed it. They have reactivated it. A lot of destruction happened there…They will show restraint before taking escalatory action,” Naravane said.

He said 20 to 25 terror camps were active across the LoC but their numbers and location kept fluctuating. “We are keeping a constant watch,” he said.

Asked how far India had pushed the nuclear threshold after Balakot, Naravane said, “Nuclear weapons have been a good deterrence. That’s where their role ends. On two or three occasions, we have carried out operations without letting the nuclear portion come into play.”

voters