India’s armed forces are capable of responding in “best suitable ways” to the threat of coordinated action along the northern and western fronts. This is what Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said at an interactive session of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum on Thursday, alluding to a joint Pakistani and Chinese threat amid what New Delhi has termed as “new attempts by Beijing to change the status quo in certain areas in eastern Ladakh”. “India faces threat of coordinated action along northern and western fronts which we have to consider in our defence planning… We have conceptualised strategy to deal with threats emerging along northern and western borders,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
General Rawat said India›s policy of engagement, if not backed by credible military power and regional influence, would imply acknowledging China›s pre-eminence in the region.
“China›s economic assistance to POK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) and continued military and diplomatic support to Pakistan mandates high level of preparations by us,» he said.
The former Chief of Army Staff said India faces the most complex threats and challenges spanning a full spectrum of possible conflict- -from nuclear to sub-conventional — but asserted that the armed forces are ready to deal with them.
“Of late, India has been seeing some aggressive actions by China, but we are capable of handling these in the best suitable ways,” General Rawat said at the online event.
In a warning to Pakistan, he said the country will suffer “heavy losses” if it attempts any misadventure against India taking advantage of the border row with China.
The CDS spoke extensively about how Pakistan has been engaged in a proxy war against India and pushing terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir, attempted to spread terrorism in other parts of the country.