A senior officer of the Indian Army headquarters in New Delhi on Friday drew an analogy between the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine leading to a global crisis, and said that the “situation has to be seen in the context of similar attempts” by the Chinese Army along the Indian Northern borders.
“The Ukraine situation has to be seen in the context of similar attempts that could be made by the PLA along our contested Northern borders. At no stage should people lose focus on the Northern borders. In view of the threat from our Northern adversary, the Indian Army continues to maintain its operational priorities with an intent to develop capabilities with a long-term perspective,” he said. Referring to the tensions with China along the Line of Actual Control on the Northern Indian borders, the officer said that the situation “warrants the Indian Army to re-align the operational tasking of its reserve formations to focus on Northern Borders and refine warfighting capabilities in high altitude mountainous terrain.”
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane reviewed the role and operational plans of the Mathura based 1 Corps, which has been re-assigned to the Northern borders.
Talking about the review by the Army Chief, the officer from the headquarters said “Various situations and responses of the formation were wargamed at Mathura and suitable lessons were also being drawn from various modern-day conflicts across the globe.”
The unilateral and provocative actions by PLA to change the status quo by force, in more than one area on the LAC, were adequately responded by the Indian Army. While both militaries are engaged in dialogue to resolve balance issues, the Indian Army maintains adequate force levels in areas where dis-engagement is yet to take place.
Based on the reviewed threat perception, re-balancing of certain forces was carried out recently, in which re-orientation of forces to Northern Borders was carried out while retaining effective capability along the Western Front. This is the result of regular threat assessment and internal deliberations to re-organise and re-align forces in keeping with the Army’s mandate of ensuring territorial integrity and to cater for the major augmentation of PLA forces and military infrastructure, said a statement by the Indian Army. (ANI)