Pakistan has changed demographics of PoK, eroded Kashmiri identity: Army chief

NEW DELHI: India should first resolve the problems in J&K through an integrated approach to tackle the “hybrid warfare” unleashed from across the border, instead of harbouring any immediate notions of reclaiming Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir where Islamabad has cleverly changed the demographics to erode the Kashmiri identity, said General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday.

The Army chief said India rightfully “claims the whole” of Kashmir and should not lose sight of PoK in the long run, but “we should first take control of our own part of Kashmir” by synergizing efforts of all security and government agencies as well as effectively propagating “our superior narrative” of being a liberal democracy to counter the prevailing narrative of falsehoods, indoctrination and radicalization being fueled by Pakistan.

“The issue on the other side is that Pakistan has very cleverly changed the entire demography of PoK, Gilgit Baltistan...We are not sure as to who is an actual Kashmiri or a Punjabi who has come and occupied the area...the Kashmiri idenity has been gradually eroded very cleverly by Pakistan,” he said.

Responding to questions after delivering a lecture on “Addressing the Challenges of Hybrid Conflict in the 21st Century at IDSA here, Gen Rawat also said the Kartarpur Corridor initiative with Pakistan “should be seen in isolation, without being linked to anything else” and stressed the Indian government’s stance that "terror and talks can't go together".

During the lecture, he said India had been a victim of hybrid warfare -- which is well-sequenced, organized and employs regular and irregular means to target an adversary’s population and infrastructure instead of military capabilities -- since Independence.

“Pakistan has used irregulars repeatedly since the 1947-48 J&K operations, the 1965 war…the Kargil misadventure was also an example of hybrid warfare. The entire world knows the terror-training camps in Pakistan are run by government agencies,” he said, adding that “disruptive techniques” like stone-pelting mobs and school bandhs being witnessed in Kashmir were also part of hybrid warfare.

But India, as a country that had never been expansionist and wants peace with all its neighbours, will not use offensive hybrid warfare to create unrest in Pakistan in retaliation. Instead, India must defend itself by a pro-active “offensive-defence” strategy.

This requires an integrated government strategy and outreach, with a greater positive engagement with the youth in Kashmir to meet their psychological, social and economic aspirations. “The local youth are being indoctrinated and radicalized to act irrationally…they have to be taken out of the streets, weaned away from the culture of stone-pelting,” said Gen Rawat.

Militarily, India does have the capability to “hit across the border” as was witnessed during the “surgical strikes” in September 2016, but needs to carefully prepare “an escalation matrix” since such actions can lead to “bigger” events. “We have the capability of punitive deterrence against Pakistan. If we have to take such a call, we can take it,” he added.