Gen Kapoor said tension between India and Pakistan were "larger" in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, but said there was no need to create any hysteria.
India was keeping all its options open, including military, in the face of Pakistan’s reluctance to crack down on terror, army chief General Deepak Kapoor said on Wednesday. His statement comes a day after home minister P Chidambaram said India could be compelled to snap all diplomatic and business ties with Pakistan if it fails to cooperate with investigations in the 26/11 terror attacks.
“It must be clearly understood we are keeping all our options open, whether diplomatic, economic or as a last resort, the military one,” general Kapoor said. “We do feel that the perpetrators of 26/11 were from Pakistan. In view of that, in India we are keeping all our options open,” he added.
He, however, said it was up to the political leadership to decide whether to exercise the military option. “When political leaders conclude those options (diplomatic, economic) are exhausted then they will take a decision,” he said.
The army chief was addressing an annual press conference on the eve of the 61st Army Day.
Reacting to the widely reported movement of Pakistani troops from the Afghanistan border to its eastern front bordering India, Kapoor said the army was seized of the situation. “We are aware that Pakistan troops from FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) have come to the east border of Pakistan with India. Let me assure you that the Indian army has factored this in their plans.”
The army chief cautioned there was “no need for any kind of hysteria; there is no cause for concern for us.” But he admitted that tensions between the two sides have escalated in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
He also said that despite a shortage of manpower, the army would provide personnel for setting up the new NSG hubs across India. The crunch was severely felt at the officer level where they were a staggering 11,300 short of the required personnel, he pointed out.
Pakistan reacted by chiding India for continuing to “ratchet up tensions. Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said Islamabad regretted that India "continues to ratchet up tensions, which is certainly not helpful to the cause of peace, security and stability of the region and in the efforts in countering terrorism.”
—With agencies
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