Will Army carry out another surgical strike? Here's what Gen Bipin Rawat has to say

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat Sunday backed the government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together.

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat,. PTI Photo

NEW DELHI: Stating that the surgical strikes of 2016 in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were meant to send a message, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said similar strikes can be conducted against Pakistan if required. "In the surgical strikes of September 2016, there was a message for Pakistan. We thought it would behave but terrorists and their leaders don't want the situation in Kashmir to improve and the ISI (Pakistan's Intelligence agency) doesn't want peace to prevail in the valley," Rawat said. "We keep on planning and taking retaliatory action but don't publicise. If required we will conduct (a surgical strike-like) operation once again," he said in a stern warning to Pakistan. On Pakistan releasing postal stamps glorifying Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani, who was killed in July 2016, Rawat said the neighbouring country has a misconception by that it would achieve anything by doing this. Earlier in the day, Rawat also backed the government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together. Infiltration from across the border persists despite the call for a ceasefire by Pakistan, said Rawat stressing that this cannot be allowed to continue and appropriate action has to be taken to deter terrorists from disrupting the peace in the Valley. "The government's policy is very clear cut... You (Pakistan) show us some initiatives so that we feel that you are not encouraging terrorism. But we see that terror activities are continuing and terrorists come from the other side of the border. "In such an atmosphere, whether talks can be initiated that the government can only decide. I agree to the government's decision that peace talks and terrorism cannot go together," he said. Rawat further said they will provide security along with other agencies for the Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in November. "Today we are also looking at Panchayat elections, we want these elections to go through because with this the power will devolve to people. "Our job is to ensure that the civil administration there and the election commission is able to carry out their tasks so that people can come out and cast their vote in a free and forthright manner without any fear of any kind of disruption," he said (With inputs from PTI)