Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said though infrastructure development is still being carried out at Doklam near the China-India-Bhutan tri-junction area, the Indian Army is keeping an eye on it.
“We are also there. If they come, we will face them. However, I do not visualise serious trouble,” Rawat told reporters here on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.
On the eve of the Army Day last week, Rawat had stated that the Army is prepared for more face-offs with China over Doklam, over which the two countries had got entangled in a bitter 73-day military confrontation in June last year.
Addressing a session on ‘The Terror State: Innovative Solutions to New Threats’ at the Raisina Dialogue, the Army Chief said terrorists should not be made heroes.
“Terrorist leaders should not be made heroes, but should be denounced by media. Their activities should be controlled, and evils shouldn’t be highlighted,” he said.
Coining a term “terro-vision”, Rawat said terrorism is here to stay unless nations unite to fight the menace. He urged global community to work together to curb it.
“Once you have identified nations supporting terrorists and terrorism, you will have to do your job yourself. No one will come to help you; you have to deal with the terrorists on your own.”
Understanding terrorism“Terror is not new to the international community, but the contour of terrorism is now witnessing a change. The first thing is to identify and define a terrorist. Who exactly is a terrorist? The fact remains that anybody who uses violence as a means to cause disruption to the civilian life and property, within his own nation or outside the boundaries of their own nation, should ideally be called a terrorist,” Rawat said.
He also suggested the need to put checks and curbs on the internet and social media that terrorist organisations resort to.
“In a democratic country, people won’t like it. But we have to take a call on whether we want a safe and secure environment, or are willing to accept curbs temporarily so terrorism can be dealt with.”
He also expressed concern over terrorists getting access to nuclear and chemicals weapons.