Pakistan, China irritants to security: Army chief

Army chief General VK Singh called Pakistan and China “irritants” with regard to India’s boundary disputes with both and said the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Beijing’s rising military prowess were a matter of worry for the country.

Though he ruled out a possibility of war with the neighbours, Singh stressed the need to have a “substantial” conventional warfare capability to go for battle in a nuclear backdrop.

“We have two irritants. One, mainly in terms of how the situation is in Pakistan where there is a problem of governance, where there is certain amount of support that is being given to some terrorists and where the internal situation is not very good,” Singh said. He said India has something to worry about till the terrorist infrastructure remains intact on the other side of the border.

General Singh was speaking at the Claws seminar on Emerging Roles and Tasks for the Indian Army. On China, he said, “We have a rising China, economically and militarily. Though we have CBMs in place and a stable border, yet we have a border dispute. China’s intention needs to be looked into at along with this additional capability that is coming up.”

All defence exchanges with China were put on hold after Beijing denied a visa to India’s northern army commander BS Jaswal, in July. Foreign minister Krishna also said Delhi has objected to China issuing stapled visas to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.