Indian army chief threatens Kashmiris with drone attacks

NEW DELHI: Army chief General Bipin Rawat has said that the Indian army is capable of using strike drones in held Jammu and Kashmir if the country will accept the consequences of such actions.

The Indian army sees no problem in using the strike drones on the potential targets if the people accept their "mistakes" and "collateral damage". The army chief was responding to a question if India will follow the footsteps of the United States in using the strike drones to terminate the hostile targets, reported Indian media on Thursday.

General Bipin Rawat said that there is no problem provided there is no backlash from the people and the international community. "When you talk about the strike drones, how does the Israeli strike the Hezbollah, how did they do it? They have sources on the ground, who pinpoint a vehicle, who say that there's a leader in the vehicle who has come out of the house, and somebody gave the information and they electronically marked the vehicle, and the vehicle gets marked. Now a drone takes off in the air and hits that vehicle,” General Rawat said.

“Now this kind of a thing is possible in that area, in that country. In our country, you have seen the kind of repercussions when you...you know...the kind of flak that you face when you take action against a stone thrower.”

He further said that in India, the way things are moving, “it’s nice to say that we need these drones.”

General Rawat also asked, if India will accept the mistakes carried out by such missile systems. “If the nation will spare us, for the kind of mistakes that may get committed using such kinds of weapons, then I think we [Indian Army] will take a call,” he said.

General Rawat was delivering the 9th YB Chavan memorial lecture at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, a Delhi-based think tank.

“Anything we procure [weapons] has got dual use....the first issue is of collateral damage,” he said. Justifying his remarks, he said that when a country is fighting such kind of war, “you have to accept the collateral damage, it will happen, it is war.”