Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said army would not tolerate any infiltration bid on the border along Pakistan.
He also hinted at launching covert operations to neutralise terrorist threat being posed to India. “Anyone trying to infiltrate will be neutralised…Army has been given
clear mandate. Army has been given free hand to tackle terrorists. However, our forces will be careful about human rights violations. But terrorists coming with guns cannot lecture us on human rights,’’ the Defence Minister said at Aaj Tak’s Manthan programme organised to mark one year of Narendra Modi government.Mr. Parrikar said his government has succeeded in reducing porosity along international borders, while intelligence network has been strengthened. Without naming Pakistan, Mr. Parrikar said any country planning and plotting against India would be dealt with “pro-actively”.
Terming the Prime Minister’s visit to China as “positive”, the Defence Minister said no proper demarcation of international border leads to problems. “But it is not a matter of great tension…It will be resolved though talks,” he added.
Referring to recent CAG report that talked about shortcomings in defence preparedness, Mr. Parrikar said his government has taken note of it and has initiated steps to improve India’s defence preparedness. “We are priortising our procurement requirements. We have already increased our arms and ammunition production by 18 per cent, while the
items in “critical list” mentioned by the CAG have been greatly reduced – from 125 items to 66 now. We are increasing private sector participation to reduce load on government besides increasing capabilities of our ordnance factories,” he added.
The Defence Minister also said he would submit his proposal regarding Chief of Defence Staff by the end of next month which would push forward seamless integration of India’s defence forces which was need of the hour. Talking about future of India’s defence forces, Mr.Parrikar said: “We are striving to create a more efficient force which
may not be necessarily big. We need to spend more on ‘effective’ personnel. In long term, India should have a slightly trimmer but more efficient and better equipped force. We need to create capabilities to meet our future needs. India can have territorial type of structure which can be scaled up in case of emergency.”
