Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Pande, said on Thursday that the security situation on the northern border is stable but sensitive. The Army Chief was speaking at the Annual Press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15.
“The situation on the northern border is stable but sensitive. We continue to talk to find a solution to address and balance issues between the two sides. Operational preparedness is very high, and deployment is both- robust, and balanced…” Chief of Army Staff, Manoj Pande said.
“As far as the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the ceasefire understanding along the LoC continues to hold. Even though we see infiltration attempts, which we have been able to thwart… We have a strong anti-drone mechanism in place to stop the use of drones to smuggle weapons and narcotics…. The area of Rajouri Poonch has seen increased terrorist activities. Support infrastructure for proxy tandems in the Rajouri Poonch sector from across the border continues…” General Manoj Pande added.
General Pande said the State of Manipur has witnessed violence since May last year. With combined efforts of the State Govt, Army, Assam Rifles and other agencies we’ve been able to stabilise the situation to a large extent.
General Manoj Pande also highlighted that disruptive technologies have become the new arena of strategic competition. “National interests remain paramount and the relevance of hard powers has been established… Disruptive technologies have become the new arena of strategic competition.”
General Manoj Pande also said that the Army has inducted better vehicles, drones and counter-drone systems. “As part of emergency provisions, we have been able to induct some new technologies and address domains of warfare. We have inducted better vehicles, drones and counter-drone systems. We have terrain-specific electronic warfare systems.,” General Manoj Pande said.
”We have restructured our artillery unit. We also have restructured units of electronic warfare and electronic intelligence. We have started the process of reducing animals in our animal transport units and they are being replaced by drones…We have made a plan and optimise our strength by significant numbers and by 2027 we will achieve an optimisation of 1 lakh numbers. We have given the proposal to the government,” he added. (
(With inputs from ANI)
