NEW DELHI: On Aug.29 reports that the Army is currently engaged in a dialogue on reducing the dimension and intensity of its involvement in the country’s internal security.

The Chief of the Army Staff, General B.C. Joshi, said in an interview said that he was hopeful of “encouraging results” from the dialogue.

Asked whether training and war preparedness could suffer due to the Army’s preoccupation with law and order duties, he said: “If there was an increased emphasis on one, there is bound to be less attention on the other.”

He said it was the “sacred duty of the Army” to constantly appraise the totality of threats to the integrity of the country and ensure that the “force, motivation and their freshness gives them and the country the confidence that the total security of the country cannot be trifled with.”

Asked to comment on the reported speech of a former army vice chief that 80% of the army was being used for internal security and it remained on high alert, which was not a happy situation to be in, Gen Joshi said the forces” involvement, particularly before last year, “has reached a level where people want to innovate ways to contend with it.” However, he said only a little over 50% of the Army was involved for internal security duties and the maximum deployment was 21 divisions. To a question on whether the current internal situation in Pakistan had any security implications for the country, the army chief said turbulence in the neighborhood was an ingredient of the overall security environment and since it was in immediate neighborhood there were security implications as the situation could go either way.

Commenting on the situation in Kashmir, the army chief said it would improve but it will take time, “In military terms it is always a long haul.”

Commenting on the role of mercenaries and the arms and spares they used in Afghanistan that are now available to militants in Kashmir, Gen Joshi said it was “one more factor in the challenge that exists in Kashmir and we’ll deal with it.”

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 3, 1993