‘Demonetisation dealt a striking blow to terrorism’ says Indian Army chief as forces begin to deliberately target and eliminate commanders rather than ‘misguided youth’
- Army chief Bipin Rawat was speaking at the Agenda Aaj Tak news event in Delhi on Sunday
- Indian PM’s demonetisation has hit suspected break away groups struggling for finance
- ‘Our effort was to target the commanders, because as far as other terrorists are concerned, they are an expendable commodity.’
- See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome
The army is deliberately targeting the commanders of terror organisations to hit the Pakistan-supported terrorist infrastructure, Gen Bipin Rawat said at the Agenda Aaj Tak on Sunday.
‘Our effort was to target the commanders, because as far as other terrorists are concerned, they are an expendable commodity and are used as cannon fodder by these groups.
Bipin also said that Narendra Modi’s demonetisation drive had adversely affected the activities of these groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat, told Agenda Aaj Tak that going after suspected terrorist commanders was more worthwhile than their ‘misguided’ recruits and also praised Prime Minister Modi’s demonetisation drive had adversely affected suspected groups, who will no doubt need financing.
‘They will keep getting produced even as you keep eliminating them because they have a factory to produce such youth through radicalisation and misinformation campaign,’ the chief said.
‘So, rather than targeting the misguided youth in the valley, we have tried to hit at the terrorist commanders and we have been quite successful in this regard,’ he said.
This year, the armed forces eliminated more than 205 terrorists, including 25 top commanders.
On the issue of demonetization, the army chief said: ‘They (terrorist groups) were having problems in bringing weapons from across the border.
The demonetisation drive had adversely affected the terror groups as `500 and `1,000 notes became useless. To get new currencies, they had to rob banks.’
On the recent news of a footballer who picked up arms and joined the so called Lashkar-e- Taiba and then surrendered after his mother’s emotional plea, Rawat said:
‘The radicalisation tricks them into picking up weapons, but our armed forces are always ready to rehabilitate these misguided young folks,’ said Rawat.
Finally, discussing arms and ammunition procurement, Rawat said the forces have to sometimes rely on imports, which delays the process.
He added that there is a need to set up flourishing indigenous industries which will also help the Make in India initiative prosper.