Army has to remain prepared to counter Dokalam-like situation

Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday that the Army has to remain prepared to counter any Dokalam-like situation along the Sino-India border.

Rawat, while speaking to reporters at a function here, also said that the mountain strike corps, designated as 17 Corps, was being raised as a “force of deterrence” and the process of its establishment was on schedule.

Asked if the 17 corps was being established to counter China, Rawat said, “Why should we say it is against whom? It is for deterrence and deterrence is against any threat that may confront the nation.”

The Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had cleared the setting up of the 17 Corps in the latter part of 2014.

So far, one division comprising nearly 25,000 soldiers has been raised for the Corps, which is at present headquartered at Ranchi. Once the raising of the 72 division is complete, the Corps will be based out of Panagarh in West Bengal.

Asked if there was any possibility of a Dokalam-like standoff with China in any other part of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Rawat said, “We have to remain prepared”.

The 73-day face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Dokalam started on June 16 after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army.

Rawat, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the function where he presented the President’s Standards to 47 Armoured Regiment, also said that the security situation in the Kashmir Valley was improving.

“I think the security situation in the Kashmir Valley is improving and what is happening now in the Kashmir Valley is possibly highlighting the frustration of the terrorists and those who are supporting them,” he said.

“We will keep eliminating terrorists, and some wayward youth, because of the social media campaign of radicalisation, will come and join,” he said, adding that most of them were now operating overground and were surrendering.