Indian Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said that Army is prepared to free Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) from Islamabad if the Government wants it to do so.

Rawat said this while replying to a media query on Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s statement that the next agenda of the government is retrieving PoK and making it a part of India.

Advertisement

“All actions are decided upon by the central government. Agencies working under the government have to act in accordance with its directions… the Army remains always prepared for any kind of action,” Rawat said.

Jitendra Singh had earlier made his observations on PoK while talking about achievements of the Modi government after 100 days of its formation.

“Now, the next agenda is retrieving PoK and making it a part of India. It’s not only me or my party’s commitment, but it’s a part of a resolution unanimously passed by Parliament in 1994 during Congress government headed by PV Narasimha Rao,” Singh had said in Jammu.

Days after the revocation of Article 370, Singh had said that people should now pray for the integration of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with India.

“We are lucky that it (revoking of the special status) happened in our lifetime. It is because of the sacrifices of our three generations,” Singh was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Defending the move with regard to Article 370, he said some people were frustrated because they had created a narrative in the country that no power could abolish the special status being enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir.

The comments came after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that talks would be held with Pakistan only on Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

On August 5, the Government scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution and split the state into two union territories.

Meanwhile, the Army Chief on Friday said that the Indian Armed Forces are planning to deploy the latest American weapons systems including M777 ultra-light howitzers and Chinook heavy-lift helicopters in war games to be carried out in Arunachal Pradesh, close to borders with China.

The exercise named HimVijay will mainly test the warfighting abilities of the newly-raised 17 Mountain Strike Corps in Arunachal Pradesh.