New Delhi: In an unusual General-vs-General debate, the Indian Army Chief has categorically rejected a proposal from Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf for 'demilitarisation' in Jammu and Kashmir as a first step towards 'self-governance' in the state.
Responding to the proposal, General Singh said there will not be any troop reduction in the troubled state as long as 'terrorist violence is not reduced to negligible levels'.
The Army Chief said the Army will stay on in Kashmir for as long as it takes.
"And as long as the infiltration is continuing, the Army will not cede any space to the insurgents," the Army Chief said.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN earlier this week, General Musharraf had said 'demilitarisation' should be the first step in any solution to the Kashmir problem.
"Demilitarisation is important because what kind of self-governance can there be if there is a 600,000 or 700,000 army personnel all over the place and in the cities controlling everything," Musharraf said.
General JJ Singh said India is under no pressure or compulsion to withdraw troops from Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the time was not yet ripe for any review of the present security arrangement in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Review... as of now, I feel we need to be present there. The terrorist infrastructure is still intact and infiltration is continuing."
While infiltration has reduced along the Kashmir boundaries, insurgents are now using new routes for infiltration, he said.
General Singh also revealed that for the first time in the 22-year-old conflict at Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield, the Indian Army has not sustained even a single casualty in an entire year.
He used this announcement to emphasise that India can maintain the troop deployment in Kashmir for as long as it wants.
"The deployment at Siachen is not hurting us at all. There have been no casualties over the last one year," General Singh said.
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