India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said that “radicalized stone pelters” were more dangerous than the pellet guns being used to quell the riots in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. These comments were made when he participated in a round table on counter- terrorism at the ongoing Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
He said, “the pellet guns are non-lethal weapons which are now used very rarely and only aimed below the leg”.
Stating that there was an impression that the Indian army was brutal and heavy handed in its approach, despite contrary evidence available, he said, “we had to be heavy handed when terrorism was forced upon us in the 1990s”. He added that the casualties of the security forces with respect to terrorists was 1:3. He argued that: “if we were heavy handed, we wouldn’t have these casualties”.
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On the issue of Pakistan state sponsored terrorism
He contended that the only effective way to deal with terrorists was to isolate their creators and all those who arm, support and finance them.
In this regard, he also lashed out at Pakistan for its continuous support of cross border militancy and said that India will take measures such as diplomatic actions at the FATF and other measures deemed to be appropriate.
On Peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan
The CDS, while welcoming the peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, cautioned against any form of “forced peace”.
He said that groups wanting to enter the mainstream should first give up arms before any negotiated peace process can be initiated.
However, he warned the Afghan forces to guard against the Taliban and to use this opportunity to re-group itself and emerge stronger. In this regard, he also added that the peace deal cannot be rushed through only because the US seeks an exit from the region.
January 16 is the last day of the Raisina Dialogue, an annual conference on geo- politics, jointly organized by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observers Research Foundation, a private think-tank based out of New Delhi.