Ceasefire on LoC with Pakistan continues to hold: Indian Army Chief

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane said on Thursday that the Ceasefire on Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan continues to hold as India negotiated from a position of strength.

He also said that the developments on the Northern Borders adequately underscored the requirement of ready and capable forces, with an optimal component of Boots on Ground, backed by modern technology.

“Ceasefire on LoC (with Pak) continues to hold as we negotiated from a position of strength.,” said Naravane.

India and Pakistan agreed on a ceasefire in February last year after which the incidents of cross border firing have come down significantly.

The Army chief pointed out that the developments on our Northern borders adequately underscored, the requirement of ready and capable forces, with an optimal component of Boots on Ground, backed by modern technology.

The remark of the chief was in the context of the ongoing military standoff with China where the Chinese Army unilaterally attempted to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh sector in 2020.

The Army Chief said that it is being observed that some countries are challenging the globally accepted norms and the rule-based order.

“This challenge has manifested in various forms of creeping aggression and opportunist actions, to alter the status-quo, keeping the threshold below all-out war,” he added.

He said that the developments in Afghanistan have brought to focus the use of proxies and non-state actors to decisive effects, adding that such actors thrive on local conditions, innovatively exploit low-cost options to devastating impact and create conditions that limit full use of sophisticated capabilities.

Naravane said that the Israel-Hamas conflict last year has firmly underscored the power of Artificial Intelligence. “Recent strikes on UAE by Houthis using armed drones and missiles reflect the rapid proliferation of these disruptive technologies to a wide range of actors,” he added. (ANI)