Interlocutor won’t affect army ops in Valley, says Rawat
NEW DELHI: The appointment of an interlocutor for Kashmir will not affect army’s operations in the Valley, chief Bi pin Raw at said on Wednesday, two days after the government named a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief to restart the dialogue process.
“The government’s Kashmir strategy has worked and we are negotiating from a point of strength,” General Rawat said about the Centre picking ex-IB chief Di ne sh war S harm a to hold talks with all stakeholders to find a solution to insurgency.
The government’s decision to restart the dialogue process was an admission that its muscular approach to the Valley’ s problems had failed, the Congress had said .“With appointment of interlocutor, I hope government has finally admitted ‘muscular approach’ has failed in J-K,” senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram had tweeted after the announcement of talks.
The government has been pursuing a tough line against a surge in violence in Kashmir that has left more than 100 people dead over the past year. Security for- ce shave stepped up the offensive and 140 militants have been killed in Kashmir this year.
Speaking at a FICCI seminar on finding solutions to the army’ s modern is at ion problems through indigenisation, the army chief flagged concerns about the security of military installations in the hinterland. He stressed on the need to deploy robust intelligence and surveillance systems to prevent a repeat of Uri and Pa thanko t-style militant attacks.
“Security of bases in the hinterland is a cause for concern,” Raw at said, adding the army was working on plans to deploy electronic warfare and early-warning systems to keep an eye not only on border areas but also in the interiors. Nineteen soldiers were killed when suspected Pakistani militants struck at an army camp in J& K’ s Uri on September 18, 2016.