We gave befitting reply to Pak, says outgoing Army chief

Outgoing Army chief Gen Bikram Singh on Thursday said India gave a befitting reply after Pakistan beheaded an Indian soldier on the Line of Control (LoC) last year.

He did not disclose any details except for saying that it was done at a tactical level.
After the incident that took place on January 8, 2013, Gen Singh had said that the Army will retaliate at the “time and place” of its choosing.

While Lance Naik Hemraj was beheaded, the body of another soldier, Naik Sudhakar Singh, was mutilated in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
On the day of his retirement, when Singh was asked if the time and place had come, he promptly responded, “It has been done.”

The Army chief, however, clarified: “When we use force, that use is from tactical to operational to strategic levels. What I mentioned that during that incident, was aimed at operations at the tactical level, which have been undertaken, by the local commander. The chief has nothing to do with it.”
What Gen Singh said on Thursday is on the same lines of what he spoke to the media six days after the incident.

“Local commanders will respond to Pakistan. The time and place will be decided by us and there is no restrictions from the government. We reserve the right to retaliate. But we respect the LoC and will not cross it,” he stated almost one and half years ago.

The gruesome attack led to a freeze in the dialogue process between India and Pakistan, which the Narendra Modi government is trying to revive.

As Gen Singh retired on Thursday after 26 months at the helm, Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag became the new chief.

On the China front, Singh, who recently went to China on an official tour, ruled out any possibility of a skirmish along the disputed border. But raising of the Mountain Strike Corps (17 Corps) that began on January 1 is on schedule, he said.

Singh said he did not foresee the contingency of a skirmish with China even though face-off at the disputed border is a regular occurrence.

"Both sides have claims to that area so when patrols come in over there, there is a face-off once in a while and that is dealt with as per the rules of engagement in place and we have robust mechanisms to deal with these issues and serious situations that come up,” he added.