People in Kashmir are getting tired of militancy: Army chief

New Delhi: The people in Kashmir have realised that it is very difficult to secede from India and they are also getting tired of militancy, Army Chief Bipin Rawat said today. He laid emphasis on the campaign to bring back the radicalised youth into the mainstream. This will put an end to the menace of militancy in the state, Gen. Rawat said.

“They have seen it for too long and they have realised (that) it hasn’t given them what they had desired for. Let me tell you… with a country like India, to seek independence from a nation where we have strong armed forces, where we have a strong democracy, and a very strong government, you cannot secede from India. This is what the people have realised,” he said.

The Army chief was responding to a question on Facebook Live, posted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), one of the organisers of the multi-lateral ‘Raisina Dialogue’. In response to another question on concerns over radicalisation among the Rohingyas and the threat arising out of it on the northeastern borders, he said anybody who is radicalised is identified in a timely manner.

“We don’t want to go after particular communities,” he insisted. Gen. Rawat said the agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh to take back the Rohingyas has proved to be beneficial, but noted that some of them might stay back.

“Our intelligence operations are carried out in a very coordinated manner. All the agencies are operating together. We are able to identify elements who have been radicalised,” the Army chief added.