Top General sees no threat from China

A top Army Commander on Sunday said he sees no threat from China and there is no reason for any alarm as the situation along the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh sector is calm.

“The situation remains calm (along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh sector). There is no threat from China,” General Officer Commanding-In-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen K T Parnaik, said.

“I do not see any reason for alarm,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an Army Day function at Akhnoor, 35 kms from here. The Northern Command Chief also presented 71 awards to Army personnel at the Investiture ceremoTopny.

“What we have on the LAC is transgressions. There are transgressions which have taken place in 2011, which have followed the routine pattern of previous years with some minor changes,” Lt Gen Parnaik said.

“The confidence-building measures are in place. Hence, the situation is very much under control,” he said adding the Army and ITBP personnel were carrying out surveillance along the border.

‘Nukes not for war’

Amid reports of China and Pakistan bolstering their nuclear arm, Army Chief General V K Singh said such weapons are not for fighting war but to have a strategic capability.

“Nuclear weapons are not for war fighting, let’s be quite clear on it. They have got a strategic capability and that is where it should end. Me and my Army are not bothered about who has nuclear weapons. We have our task cut out and we will progress along that,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
China has been reportedly helping Pakistan in its nuclear power programme and has supplied reactors to that country. Beijing is also believed to have been tacitly assisting Islamabad on the nuclear weapons front.

On reports claiming that Pakistan may deploy its forces along its borders with India as a defensive measure in case of any terror strike here, he said, “It does not affect our options in anyway. Those are their options, what they want to do, they are most welcome to do.”

Replying to a question on whether the Finance Ministry has put a stop on some of the procurement plans of the Army, Gen Singh denied any knowledge and said the country’s leadership was quite alive to the needs of the armed forces.

“I don’t know. Every ministry has its own procedure. I am quite sure they are following their own procedure and the country’s leadership is quite alive to what the needs of the armed forces are,” he said and hoped that procurement plans will be accordingly put into motion.