NEW DELHI: The Defence Minister Sharad Pawar Saturday said that time had come to withdraw armed forces from internal security armed forces from internal security duties and let a modernized police force take up the task.
Asserting that he was against the use of armed forces to tackle internal problem Pawar in an interview to All India Radios spot light program said do not want hatred i the minds of the local people against the army the dangers of which a prolonged deployment poses.
Favouring a political solution to resolve the tangle in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab Pawar said there has to be an approach 10 resolve certain legitimate problems of the people of the two states Serious attempt should be made to win over the confidence of the people of Punjab and Kashmir he added.
Reacting to conjectures drawn from statements of the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Army Chief Mirza Aslam Beg of Pakistan launching a full scale war on India the Defence Minister said that Islamabad did not have the capability to face the consequences of any misadventure directed against Indi Pawar accused Pakistan of tying to destabilize parts of India in a bid to pin down sizable Indian security forces and described it as a “proxy war.” He said “our security forces are dealing ruthlessly with all such attempts with rich dividends”.
He said the process of screening of population of both the trouble torn states had begun with security forces engaged in isolating and eliminating the anti-national forces.
On question by some political parties to exercise the right to not pur suit the Minister said “though we are capable of this we don’t believe in such tactics”.
On the supply of spares from Moscow he said the government had recently received a communication from the Russian President Boris Yeltsin assuring that India’s vital defence interest would be protected.
The Defence Minister said a high power team led by the Foreign Secretary was leaving for Moscow Sunday to resolve outstanding defence economic Rupee-rouble rate fixation and other issues.
He said along with this thrust the government was giving top priority to indigenisation tend and that the private sector was being encouraged to enter the defence manufacture market in a big way.
He also stressed to contain the current size of the armed forces in numbers and said special emphasis should now be laid on the modernization of the forces and force multipliers.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1992
