Army operating with people friendly rules of engagement in J&K: Army General Bipin Rawat
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat dismisses UN report on human rights violation in Kashmir
While talking to a group of students from Baramullah he said, "Army continues to operate under strict rules of engagement that have been formulated. We conduct operations in a very people friendly manner. Motivated reports that keep coming out that Army and security forces are brutally carrying out operations aren't true"
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Friday that the Indian army was conducting operations under strict friendly rules in Jammu and Kashmir.
While talking to a group of students from Baramullah he said, "Army continues to operate under strict rules of engagement that have been formulated. We conduct operations in a very people friendly manner. Motivated reports that keep coming out that Army and security forces are brutally carrying out operations aren't true".
He further called that reports that say security forces conduct a brutal operation in the state as "motivated".
"Our basic purpose is to get after terrorists who are creating violence and disturbance in the Kashmir valley. Our aim is not to inconvenience the civilian population which is not indulging in arsenal violence".
Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor's rule on June 20, the fourth time in the last one decade, after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP forcing Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister of the state.
"There is nothing like stepping up... Army continues to operate with the formulated rules of engagement," Rawat said when asked whether security has been stepped up in the Valley after the fall of the government.
The Army chief said in addition to the "stringent" rules of engagement, local formation commanders continuously give guidelines to soldiers as to how to operate.
General Rawat had earlier dismissed the recent UN report on alleged human rights violations in Kashmir as "motivated" and asserted that Indian Army's record in this regard was "absolutely above board".
"The message we want these children to go back with is that if terrorist activities and stone-pelting stops in Kashmir, it too can prosper like Delhi or other big cities, and perhaps even better," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)