Sabre rattling: New Indian chief issues warning to Pakistan
Says response to any threats will be ‘intense and immediate’.
On his first day in office, Indian army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag on Friday warned Pakistan that India’s response to any beheading-like incident in the future would be “more than adequate, intense and immediate”, The Times of Indiareported.
“I can tell you that our response to any such act will be more than adequate in future. It will be intense and immediate,” he told reporters after his welcome guard of honour as chief of army staff.
The new army chief was asked how India gave a ‘befitting reply’ to Pakistan after the alleged beheading of Indian soldier Lance Naik Hemraj along the Line of Control in Poonch sector on January 8, 2013. Previous army chief General Bikram Singh had on Thursday stated that India had given a ‘befitting reply’ to Pakistan after the incident.
“It has been done. Please understand that when we use force, that use is from tactical to operational to strategic levels, which have been undertaken. I think this has been done by the local commander, the chiefs have nothing to do with it,” Gen Singh had said.
The Indian side has accused Pakistani special forces of beheading Hemraj and mutilating the body of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh.
In 2013, talks between military officials from Pakistan and India ended in a stalemate with the two sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire at the LoC in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
Pakistan strongly rejected Indian allegations that its troops resorted to unprovoked fire, attacked any Indian army post or killed Indian soldiers, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) at the time.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2014.