Monday (September 23): Army Chief General Bipin Rawat today warned that the response to the terror camp getting functional again may go beyond India’s previous response by way of an air strike in February. He was talking to reporters at the Officers Training Academy.
Rawat said today that, Pakistan has reactivated the Balakot terror camp very recently and about 500 infiltrators were waiting to sneak into India.
“Let me tell you, Balakot has been reactivated by Pakistan very recently,” he said while stating that the terror camp beyond the border has become operational again.
He further said, “Balakot had suffered damaged and was destroyed by the cross border strike and that is why people have got away from there and now it has been reactivated.”
About the number of infiltrators to come into territory he said, “These numbers keep fluctuating, but I would say yes there are at least 500 people who are waiting to infiltrate and that is the minimum number.”
“These numbers kept fluctuating based on the weather pattern. As the ice has melted, the bid to infiltrate is towards the northern part of Jammu and Kashmir and when temperature falls such attempts were through areas less vulnerable to snowfall,” he added.
To the question that if a repeat strike may be expected, he replied, “Why must you expect repeat of a similar thing, earlier we did something, then we did Balakot, why must we repeat…why not keep the other side guessing as to what we will do; why tell him what we are going to do, why not keep him guessing, why say repeat, why not something beyond that.”
About security steps taken,he said, “The Army has taken adequate measures to curb infiltration to the maximum extent by deploying more troops along the Line of Control. Other areas, along the International Border were however being exploited for such purposes.”
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