Indian army chief continues criticising Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Continuing his harangue against Pakistan, Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday alleged that Pakistan has intentionally caused trouble in Kashmir valley by radicalising its youth and also claimed that Pakistan’s peace proposal is a farce as long as it refuses to act on terror emanating from its soil, Indian media reported.

“Pakistan wants these types of trouble to continue in Kashmir. They want that peace shouldn’t return to this area. They’re trying to radicalise the youth of Kashmir. Pakistan has decided to bleed India with a thousand cuts,” he said during an interview to news agency ANI.

The Indian army chief also questioned the potency of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘peace proposal’ extended to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week.

“When Imran Khan came to power in Pakistan, he tried to send some messages of peace. But whether the entire establishment in Pakistan wants this peace is what we have to understand,” he said.

“There seems to be some kind of variation in what is being uttered, what is being spoken about and what we’re seeing in action on the ground. I think there is disharmony between the two,” Rawat said.

General Rawat alleged that though Islamabad has time and again maintained that its soil is not being used for terror activities, however the commitment has failed to transpire on the ground.

“They (Pakistan) keep saying that they won’t let their soil be used for terrorist activities against other nation. But we can see that terrorist activities are taking place and terrorists are coming from across the border,” he alleged.

General Rawat’s comment came close on the heels of a tweet from Prime Minister Imran Khan where he had expressed disappointment over India’s ‘arrogant and negative’ response after his ‘offer for peace’ was declined by New Delhi.

Imran Khan had written a letter to Modi expressing his desire to resume dialogue between the two countries. However, Imran Khan’s proposal was not accepted by the Indian government, which had cited the prevailing security scenario as the reason for rescinding Imran Khan’s offer.