Army chief warns the public to remain alert during festival season

PATIALA: Hitting out at efforts to revive insurgency in Punjab, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said that public should remain alert during the festival season as attempts are being made to disrupt peace in the state.

In a brief interaction with the media after addressing the gathering at the foundation day function of a school in Nabha, he said, “The intelligence reports regarding this is already available, you have seen what is happening in Punjab over the last few days. People have seen terrorist modules being caught here in Punjab and that should create alertness among the masses."


Rawat said that terrorism was flushed out quickly in Punjab years back as the people had cooperated and thrown their support behind the security forces. “One of our neighbouring countries keeps trying to create disturbance as they don’t want India to progress. Punjab is a state which is rising and progressing at a very fast pace. I have been reading in media about the referendum 2020 and going through these reports too. I have come to the conclusion that some attempts are being made to revive insurgency. In Punjab, the ‘Mission 2020’ has been announced however it cannot be ruled out that this mission cannot extend to northeastern states."
He was referring to the so-called agenda of a banned separatist organisation.

He claimed that efforts to revive the insurgency were not limited only to Punjab.