Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh on Wednesday accused the Pakistan Army of derailing the peace process a “number of times” in the past.
“It has done it number of times. I am not saying in this (Pathankot) connection…” he said, while responding to a question whether he felt the Pathankot attack was an attempt by the Pakistan Army and the ISI to disrupt the peace process.
General Dalbir who was addressing an annual press conference ahead of the Army Day in New Delhi, also expressed “concern” at the infiltration along the border with Pakistan in Punjab but made it clear that the responsibility lies with the BSF which is manning the area, according to The Hindu.
The Indian army chief also rejected allegations about lack of coordination in response to the attack saying there was “complete synergy”.
Refusing to comment on whether the talks between the foreign secretaries of both countries should be held this week, the Indian army chief said it is a diplomatic and political decision.
On Pakistan’s role in the attack, General Dalbir asserted that markings on medicines carried by them along with some of the equipment showed that they were from Pakistan. He said the evidence has been shared with the Pakistani authorities but details will come out only after the investigation.
The Indian military chief denied the criticism of poor coordination among the country’s different security agencies during the recent terrorist attack on Pathankot air base in the northern state of Punjab.
“Coordination among different agencies wasn’t lacking during the Pathankot operation. There was total synergy. 560 soldiers were part of the operation and a team of Special Forces was also deployed,” Singh claimed at an event in India’s capital, New Delhi, amid growing calls to fix accountability for confusion during the anti-terror operation.
General Dalbir pointed out that his force was not under anybody’s command, except the western army commander, attempting to quash media reports of a tussle for control of the operation between the country’s elite force the National Security Guard (NSG), the army and the air force.
“Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the Pathankot operation but it will be premature to elaborate before the National Investigation Agency probe is over,” Singh said. The general, however, shunned a question on the reasons behind the operation taking days to complete, saying the matter was “best left to commanders on the ground who did a splendid job”.
Further, the top Indian army general also dismissed criticism of the NSG’s deployment in the situation, saying the elite force was called in as the government feared of a hostage situation developing in the air base which houses over 10,000 people.
“All army commanders were ordered to carry out comprehensive security audit of key military installations across India,” he said.
A group of six suspected militants, belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed had allegedly crossed the border from the western side and entered the strategically-important air base in the northern state of Punjab on January 2, which left as many as seven soldiers dead.
Questions were raised in the wake of the massive confusion about the number of terrorists and the state of the counter-terror offensive that saw India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh declaring the operation over and deleting the tweet hours later.
Meanwhile, the general rejected the notion that a recent 26-hour siege of a building near the near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif was connected to the Pathankot attack.