Army dominates LoC, says Jaitley

Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has said the Indian army is in “domination” across the entire stretch of the Line of Control (LoC). “I can emphatically say the Indian army is in a position of domination along the full stretch of Line of Control.” he said in an interview-based programme on Doordarshan. The interview is part of Dialogue@DDNews, a series of interviews by Doordarshan with Union ministers to mark the Narendra Modi-led government’s three years in office.

Jaitley’s strong tone was in response to a question on what strategies India had as a response to the tense situation on the border with Pakistan. Government officers explained the term domination as Indian army’s “more aggressive” position having deployed more personnel and firepower against what Pakistan has made available to its forces along the Line of Control.”

“They (army) are in a position to respond to any aggression from the adversary,” the minister added.

According to him, to match the enhanced strength on the border, the government has decided to push up the level of domestic production of armaments. “You cannot go around the world buying military equipment just when they are needed the most,” he said.

Jaitley said this was the reasoning on which the NDA government has decided to expand and rope in the private sector in defence production.

“THEY (ARMY) ARE IN A POSITION TO RESPOND TO ANY AGGRESSION FROM THE ADVERSARY” ARUN JAITLEY, Defence Minister

The government plans to put into effect a new strategic partnership policy under which it will select six Indian firms to partner foreign original equipment manufacturers in building single-engine aircraft, helicopters, submarines and armoured vehicles in India. The details of the policy are still to be made public but the defence ministry has already given the broad indications of it to a select gathering of executives from private industry earlier this month.