Reiterating India’s stand that terrorism and talks cannot go hand-in-hand, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday lashed out at Pakistan and warned of carrying out surgical strikes in future, if required.
Asserting that the surgical strikes in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 2016 were meant to send a message, Rawat said similar strikes may be conducted against Pakistan if required.
“In the surgical strikes of September 2016, there was a message for Pakistan. We thought it would behave but terrorists and their leaders don’t want the situation in Kashmir to improve and the ISI (Pakistan’s Intelligence agency) doesn’t want peace to prevail in the valley,” Rawat said in an interview to ABP News.
On Pakistan releasing postal stamps glorifying Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani, who was killed in July 2016, Rawat said that it was just a misconception of the neighbouring nation to think that they are achieving something.
Earlier on Sunday, General Rawat had backed the government’s decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together.
In another interview to news agency ANI, the Army chief said the surgical strikes are a weapon of surprise and that it must remain one.
General Rawat also lashed out at Pakistan for disrupting peace in Kashmir valley and trying to radicalise the youth of the state.
“Pakistan wants these types of trouble (violence) to continue in Kashmir. They want peace to not be restored in the area. Pakistan has decided to bleed India with a thousand cuts,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Friday, two Special Police Officers and a constable in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district were abducted and killed by terrorists. Earlier last week, a BSF jawan’s body was found with his eyes gouged out.
Hours after the killing of the policemen, India decided to call of a meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meet starting on Tuesday.