New Delhi: The recent terrorist attack on an Army truck in Poonch that killed five soldiers is a reflection of Pakistan’s “desperation” after the 2019 Balakot air strikes, and the subsequent abrogation of Article 370 and 35A that scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, according to Lt. Gen. (Retd) Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, former commander of the elite Chinar Corps and former director general of the Defence Intelligence Agency.
In an exclusive interview to ABP Live, discussing his recently released memoir 'Kitne Ghazi Aye Kitne Ghazi Gaye: My Life Story', Dhillon said India had made it clear to Pakistan after the Pulwama attack that took place on February 14, 2019, that New Delhi will “hit back” if Islamabad continues state-sponsored terrorism.
“After Pulwama, the Indian government’s resolve and their will to strike at will was showcased when we carried out the air strikes in Balakot. As per technical terminology, when the Air Force fully armed crosses the international boundary it’s actually a declaration of war,” said Dhillon, who had taken over as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Srinagar-based 15 Corps of the Indian Army just a few days before that on February 8, 2019.
He said: “(The) Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control, overflew Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, suppressed the Pakistani air defence, defeated the Pakistani Air Force and crossed the international boundary.”
“Balakot is not in PoK, Balakot is in proper Pakistan. So IAF struck in proper Pakistan, destroyed the camp and came back safely without even being noticed or touched by the Pakistani air defence. So that was the lesson told to Pakistan that we will hit back if you try out anything like this (Pulwama),” he added.
According to Dhillon, who was also the director general of Defence Intelligence Agency, when it comes to incidents like the one that occurred in Poonch and several other such terrorist attacks, it shows that Pakistan will “continue to do mischief”.
The Poonch terror attack was allegedly carried out by People's Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an affiliate of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
“That is the desperation of Pakistan after the Balakot strikes and after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A when Pakistan as a state failed to get any diplomatic support in their favour and they are in an economic mess, political mess, their military is accused of all types of corruption charges, they have to keep the attention of the public away from the domestic issues,” he said.
Dhillon stressed: “Only thing that unites them (Pakistan) is Kashmir. Hence, these are acts of desperation which are carried to make sure that Kashmir remains in news, whereas, all the terror indices in Kashmir – the number of terrorists getting killed, the number of terrorists present, the number of terrorists getting recruited, the number of security forces getting killed, the number of civilians getting killed by terrorists and new terrorists joining the ‘tanzeems’ – all these indices are down.”
Contrary to that, he said, the peace indices in terms of influx of tourists, hotel and airlines bookings and operation of retail shops are going up in Kashmir.
He highlighted: “Peace is returning to Kashmir after August 5, 2019. Pakistan continues to be in a state which it is and desperation is now showing wherein these incidents of terror are being continued by Pakistan.”
Dhillon said Articles) 370 and 35A "had to go". "They were not in the interest of the public. These were temporary provisions of the Constitution.”
He also said that the “time is not ripe” for a drawdown of troops from the Valley as “terrorism is not finished in Kashmir” but has only gone down and the process of “consolidation” is going on.
‘Pakistan Infiltrating Terrorists Through Third Country’
Describing the challenges faced by security forces in terms of a difficult and hard terrain at the Line of Control (LoC), Dhillon said, the Indian Army has been able to establish a “strong” counter-infiltration grid despite everything.
“The LoC is a difficult terrain because of altitudes, because of the visibility, there are primary jungles, secondary jungles and tertiary jungles. At places the visibility is not even two meters. There are patches of land in that region where the sun has not touched the ground for years… The line of sight is absolutely restricted,” he said.
However, Dhillon said, the counter-infiltration grid of the Indian Army continues to prevent infiltration to a large extent, and that is why Pakistan is now using other methods to continue cross-border terrorism.
“The counter-infiltration grid of the Indian Army is very strong notwithstanding Pakistan using other international boundaries in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is also using the third country to infiltrate the terrorists. So these terrorists are infiltrating through various means despite a very strong counter-infiltration grid.”
However, he said, the number of infiltration currently compared to previous years is “tremendously low".
“But Pakistan retains the capability to carry out terror acts as a state-sponsored policy. That is a point the world is watching. All these incidents are showing Pakistan, ISI and its Army’s direct involvement in creating terror inside India and killing innocents or bleeding the security personnel in the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” he underlined.
Realignment Of Troops And Theaterisation
Dhillon, a Rajputana Rifles veteran, said India is the only country in the world which has two neighbours that are nuclear-armed and both are adversaries.
“Security of a nation which has two nuclear neighbours and both of them are not friendly to India … Hence, the security dynamics (of India) is always evolving. India’s security strategies are always evolving and analysis is carried out at regular intervals, accordingly realignment takes place. It is a very dynamic and continuing process. So Indian defence forces carry out reviews of our international boundaries, as also our maritime borders as well as air space management.”
He said the need today is to push more forces towards the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China from the LoC.
“Today there is a need to re-align the forces towards northern borders. It may be done. Tomorrow if there is a requirement to re-align forces back to western border, it will be done. It’s a dynamic issue. A review is carried out regularly by the security experts and based on that review and threats which are envisaged in the near future, in the long future realignment of forces, re-assessment of the threats, allocation of assets and resources is carried out,” he said.
As far as creation of military theatre commands are concerned, Dhillon said India is already “late” in this aspect.
“Why should we not employ all our defence forces in a very cohesive and coordinated manner to get the best of their individual and combined assets? So theaterisation is the way to go. Given our long borders it is the need of the hour. Lot of work has been done, a lot of work is already going on.”
However, he did say that the process of creating theatre commands got delayed due to certain issues but that are now getting resolved.
“Nobody has said that theaterisation is not the need of the hour. Yes, there are certain issues that need to be resolved. They are getting resolved by the people who are responsible for it and the time of theaterisation was yesterday. We are already late. We need to look at it comprehensively and we need to look at it without any individual interests and passions. It’s in the national interest we need to go for theaterisation and it will happen,” Dhillon added.