Need 'innovative ways' to fight 'dirty war': Army Chief
While talking about the human shield controversy, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Sunday, soldiers need "innovative ways" to fight the "dirty war" in Kashmir. He said, if people are throwing stones, he cannot tell his men to "just wait and die". "I would have been happy if the protesters were firing weapons...instead of throwing stones," he added.
Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat today defended his troops over the human shield controversy saying that his men needed innovative ways to fight the "dirty war" in Kashmir.Rawat told PTI that when people were throwing stones and petrol bombs at Army personnel, he cannot tell his men to 'just wait and die'. "This is a proxy war and proxy war is a dirty war. It is played in a dirty way. The rules of engagements are there when the adversary comes face-to-face and fights with you. It is a dirty war.... That is where innovation comes in. You fight a dirty war with innovations," Rawat told PTI."People are throwing stones at us, people are throwing petrol bombs at us. If my men ask me what do we do, should I say, just wait and die? I will come with a nice coffin with a national flag and I will send your bodies home with honour. Is it what I am supposed to tell them as chief? I have to maintain the morale of my troops who are operating there," Gen Rawat said.Rawat went on to indicate that stone pelters had complicated the security situation in Kashmir, saying his force would find it easier to quell protests if instead of stones, weapons were used.  "In fact, I wish these people, instead of throwing stones at us, were firing weapons at us. Then I would have been happy. Then I could do what I (want to do)," Rawat told PTI.Saying that the Army cannot run away from its role to provide security, Rawat said, "Tomorrow elections have to be held in Anantnag and similar things may happen. If the army does not respond to call for assistance, then the trust between the people whom we are protecting, police and army will break." "That is something I cannot allow to happen. This is what the militants want. It can create a divide between the army and other security forces," he said.'NEED TO FEAR THE ARMY'He added that the Indian Army is a friendly force and is practising maximum restraint to deal with the Kashmir situation. Rawat noted that the force can only do its job if the country fears it. "Adversaries must be afraid of you and at the same time your people must be afraid of you. We are a friendly army, but when we are called to restore law and order, people have to be afraid of us," he said.Rawat also spoke about the core issue of Kashmir, saying that it is something that needs a composite solution and is a process in which everybody will have to get involved. "It will have to be a composite solution. Everybody will have to get involved. Army's role is to ensure that violence does not take place and the common man who is not indulging in this (violence) is protected," he said, when asked about the solution to the Kashmir issue.HUMAN SHIELD CONTROVERSY The Army chief's statements come days after Major Leetul Gogoi of the 53 Rashtriya Rifles was awarded a Commendation Card by General Rawat for the former's role in countering insurgency in Kashmir.In his PTI interview, Rawat said that Gogoi's commendation was awarded with the aim of boosting the morale of his troops. "As Army Chief my concern is morale of the Army. That is my job. I am far away from the battle field. I cannot influence the situation there. I can only tell the boys that I am with you. I always tell my people, things will go wrong, but if things have gone wrong and you did not have malafide intent, I am there," he said.Major Gogoi is the same officer who sparked nationwide controversy after tying a Kashmiri local to an Army jeep. Gogoi, in a statement delivered recently, said his actions were aimed at saving the lives of the men under his command as well as those of stone pelters in Kashmir. On April 9, the day of polling for the Srinagar Parliamentary bypoll, Major Gogoi and his team were called to the Utligam polling both to rescue civilian and security personnel trapped at the location. Major Gogoi said that around 1,200 protesters had surrounded the booth and in order to escape from the booth, with the people he had just rescued, he grabbed a person he believed to be the ring leader of the protesters and got him tied to a jeep. The man - Farooq Ahmad Dar - has denied that he was a stone pelter. Gogoi and his team then drove the jeep with Dar tied to it out of the area. A video of the incident, shared by former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, went viral on social media and caused a huge controversy, forcing the Army to set up a Court of Inquiry into the incident. Sources previously told India Today that the CoI has not found Major Gogoi to be at fault. Gogoi continues to serve the Rashtriya Rifles unit.However, Rawat told PTI he has a general idea about what is going on in the Court of Inquiry and that is why he went ahead with awarding the Major. "I know what is happening in the COI. It is being finalised. What do we punish him for."UNREST IN KASHMIRRawat's comments come amid concerns of widespread unrest in the Kashmir Valley following Saturday's killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat. Bhat, the successor of Burhan Wani, was killed on Saturday in an Indian Army operation. Wani's death had sparked months of violent unrest in Kashmir leading to the deaths of more than 100 civilians. Officials have however expressed confidence that a repeat of the post-Wani violence won't happen as the establishment is prepared to deal with stone pelters. 