Rawat warns of external bid to revive insurgency
Says if action not taken now, it will be too late
Attempts are being made through “external linkages” to “revive insurgency” in Punjab and if early action is not taken, it will be too late, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat on Saturday said.
He was addressing a gathering of senior Army officers, defence experts and former senior officials of government and police at a seminar on ‘Changing Contours of Internal Security in India: Trends and Responses’.
Gen. Rawat also said that attempts were being made again through “external linkages” and “external abetment” to revive insurgency in Assam.
“Punjab has been peaceful but because of these external linkages, attempts again are being made to revive insurgency in the state,” he said, adding, “we have to be very careful.”
Punjab has been peaceful but because of these external linkages, attempts again are being made to revive insurgency in the state.
— BIPIN RAWAT
thin` Let us not k that Punjab (situation) is over. We cannot close our eyes to what is happening in Punjab. And, if we do not take early action now, it will be too late
Attempts are being made through “external linkages” to “revive insurgency” in Punjab and if early action is not taken, it will be too late, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat on Saturday said.
“Let us not think that Punjab (situation) is over. We cannot close our eyes to what is happening in Punjab. And, if we do not take early action now, it will be too late,” he told reporters on Saturday.
Punjab saw one of the worst phases of insurgencies in the 1980s during the proKhalistan movement which was eventually quelled by the government.
Internal security is one of the biggest problems in the country, but question is “why we have not been able to find a solution, because it has external linkages,” Gen Rawat said.
The event was organised by defence thinktank CLAWS (Centre for Land and Warfare Studies).
Asserting that insurgency cannot be dealt with military force, he pitched for adopting an approach in which all agencies, the government, civil administration, military and police work in an “integrated manner”.
“The resolution of Naga insurgency can be forerunner to the Manipur insurgency situation.”
“There are some linkages between the two. But, if that resolution does not satisfy Manipuris then the insurgency in that state will take a different turn, Gen. Rawat said.
As far as Assam is concerned, attempts are again being made, through “external linkages” to revive insurgency in the state, he said.
And, also through external abetment, and acknowledged once even by the “northern neighbour”. So, there is no denying the fact that there are these factors, Gen. Rawat added.