India ready for war, if need be: Army chief

Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan and reports of troop build-up post 26/11, Army Chief Major General Deepak Kapoor on Wednesday said that Indian troops are ready in case of a war.

Reiterating that the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks were from Pakistan, General Kapoor said, "We do feel that the perpetrators of 26/11 were from Pakistan. In view of that, in India we are keeping all our options open.”

Admitting that the tensions between the two nations have increased post Mumbai terror attack the Army Chief said that the Indian troops are war ready. "It must be understood that it is not to create any war hysteria and the options include diplomatic, economic and, as a last resort, fighting," he said at a press conference.

Gen Kapoor added that the Army was aware about troop movement from FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) to Pakistan's eastern border with India. "Having known this fact, let me assure you that the Indian Army has factored this in its plans."

On being asked about the recent Poonch encounter in Mendhar, General Kapoor accepted that the gun battle was a tough one.

Replying to a question on the alleged marriage of an Indian Army medic posted in Afghanistan Gen Kapoor said, "According to that woman, her marriage took place in the month of December but as per our records the doctor was posted there from January to November."

Earlier in the day, Gen Kapoor had agreed to providing Army paratroopers for manning new NSG hubs set to come up in four cities to tackle any terror threat.

'Problems being faced'

"Whatever paratroopers or other troops are required to enhance the capabilities of the NSG, we will provide them," Gen Kapoor said on the sidelines of a seminar on 'Threats and Challenges for the Indian Army'.

"The Army is certainly facing shortage of officers and we will see how we can combat it. But if the government needs manpower in the anti-terror operations, we will certainly provide them," he said when queried about the Army's manpower constraint and meeting the government demand for NSG.

He further said that the Special Forces (SF) should enhance its capabilities and develop interoperability with the NSG to tackle the terror threat and stressed on the need for every armed unit of the Army to have the capability to counter heightened threats from terrorists.

"Every combat arms unit should have a limited, yet focused capability to meet such challenges," Gen Kapoor said.

He said that the country will continue to rely on SF of the three Services to tackle the threat from terrorists till the time the NSG was able to expand to its planned capacities.

"The country will continue to rely on some of the SF, which are there with the respective services, predominantly with the Army, should there be a situation," the Army Chief said.

Stating that the Army will need to upgrade its capabilities to tackle low-intensity conflicts (LICO), he said, "We will require renewed focus on the upgrading of the counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency capabilities based on emerging technologies to train and equip our soldiers to fight cleaner, better and safer."

Counter-terror ops

Gen Kapoor said that the force would continue to play a role in counter-terrorist operations, even though they were the responsibility of the forces under the Home Ministry.

"Countering terrorism and managing internal security primarily remains the responsibility of the Home Ministry and agencies under it. However, since heightened terrorist attacks have become a reality today, we need to take some measures for self-protection and provide assistance to the Central forces in times of emergencies," Army Chief said.

He said that the armed forces were required to maintain a high level of combat readiness at all times to meet emergencies.

"We live in troubled times and a fragile region and the possibility of a marginal conventional conflict cannot be ruled out. We must maintain high level of combat readiness at all times," he said.

On the nuclear threat faced by the region, Gen Kapoor said, "The presence of nuclear weapons in our neighbourhood, underlines the fact that any conventional war can at any time turn in to a nuclear war, provided a certain thresh-hold is crossed by either side."