The security situation in the northeast has improved to a large extent in recent recent years and the withdrawal of AFSPA from some areas of the NE states is not hindering Army operations, Lt General Rana Pratap Kalita, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Command, said on Friday.
In the eastern theatre the Army is working on developing villages as model ones to ensure that there is no migration in search of livelihood, he said.
“The internal situation in the entire north-east has improved quite a lot in recent years. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been withdrawn from certain districts of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. The removal of AFSPA was not arbitrary; it was withdrawn after a lot of deliberations with stakeholders.
“The removal of the special powers are not hindering Army operations in any way,” he said at a Meet the Press in Press Club, Kolkata.
AFSPA is a Parliamentary act that grants special powers to the Indian Armed Forces and the state and paramilitary forces in areas classified as ‘disturbed areas’ with the objective to maintain law and order in disturbed areas.
Referring to the Army’s model villages initiative, he said it was announced in last year’s union budget and is an ongoing process aimed to ensure that there is no migration from border villages in search of livelihood.
Measures have been taken to provide basic means of education, healthcare and means of livelihood in those villages, Lt Gen Kalita said.
“Work has started in two-three villages, at Kaho (in eastern Arunachal Pradesh) to be specific. Across the eastern theatre we have identified 130 villages and almost a similar number has been identified in eastern Ladakh and Uttarakhand,” he added.
Lt Gen RP Kalita #ArmyCdrEC had a constructive and insightful interaction with Media personnel today during ‘Meet the Press Programme’ hosted by Press Club, Kolkata. The Army Commander exchanged mementos with Mr Snehasis Sur, President Press Club Kolkata on the occasion. pic.twitter.com/KZ3y7YB8po
— EasternCommand_IA (@easterncomd) January 27, 2023
When asked if the Army keeps any proof while conducting an operation, Lt Gen Kalita replied in negative saying that it was a “political question”.
The question was raised by scribes amidst demands by some opposition leaders for proof of surgical strikes in Pakistan in 2016.
“This is a political question. So I don’t like to comment on that. I think the nation trusts the Indian Armed Forces,” he said.
“When we are going to carry out any operation, we are not looking at keeping any proof of that operation,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had expressed doubts over the cross-border military operation recently during Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Jammu.
“They (Centre) talk about surgical strikes and that they have killed so many of them, but there is no proof. They are ruling by peddling a bundle of lies,” he had said.
The party, however, distanced itself from the remark and said it does not reflect its stand as it supports all military actions that are in the country’s interests.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had termed Singh’s comments “ridiculous” and said the Armed Forces are doing their job “exceptionally well” and do not need to give any proof.
AICC general secretary for communications, Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter that the view expressed by Singh was his own and the UPA government too had carried out surgical strikes before 2014 (when the BJP-led NDA came to power). Congress had supported and will continue to support all military actions that are in the country’s interests.
In September 2016, India conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in response to a terrorist attack on an Army base in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
