India ready to handle 2-front threat: Rawat
Gen Naravane takes stock of deployments in Ladakh a day after air chief visits bases in eastern sector
NEW DELHI: Chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat said on Thursday that Pakistan could try to take advantage of any threat developing along India’s northern borders but warned that the neighbour’s army would suffer heavy losses if it attempted any misadventure amid rising tensions between India and China in the Ladakh sector.
The latest flashpoint in the north was triggered by provocative Chinese actions on the southern bank of Pangong Tso, after which India made counter-manoeuvres to occupy key heights.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the United States-India Strategic Partnership Forum on Navigating New Challenges, Rawat highlighted the threat of “coordinated action” by the militaries of China and Pakistan along the northern and western borders, and stressed that the Indian armed forces were capable of handling the joint threat.
The CDS said India’s military strategy to deal with a twin challenge would be based on identifying a primary and a secondary front for conducting operations.
His comments came on a day the army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane reached Leh for a two-day security review of the Ladakh sector, where India and China armies have deployed almost 100,000 soldiers and weaponry in their forward and depth areas.
The Indian Army has rejigged its deployments at multiple points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, including the northern bank of Pangong Lake, to prevent the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from making aggressive manoeuvres to unilaterally alter the status quo in contested areas.
Tensions flared in the sensitive sector after the Indian Army occupied key heights on the southern bank of Pangong Lake five days ago to stop the PLA from grabbing Indian territory in a stealthy midnight move. Brigade commander-ranked officers from the two sides met for the fourth time in Chushul on Thursday to de-escalate tensions but the talks were inconclusive with neither army prepared to make concessions
On Wednesday, IAF Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria visited front-line bases under the Shillong-based Eastern Air Command to review the air force’s operational readiness in the eastern sector. India has strengthened its military posture across the length of the LAC — from Ladakh to Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to deal with any provocation by the Chinese military. India is also keeping a strict vigil on the western front to deter Pakistan.
The Pakistani army will suffer heavy losses if it attempts any misadventure. BIPIN RAWAT, Chief of Defence Staff