NEW DELHI – Political initiative must go “hand-in-hand” with militaryoperations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir to bring peace, Army chief GenBipin Rawat said today, and favoured ramping up military offensive to pileup heat on Pakistan, PTI has reported.

Gen Rawat said the armed forces operating in the state cannot be “statusquoist” and must evolve new strategies and tactics to deal with thesituation, which he feels is “marginally” better since he took over a yearago.

In an interview to PTI, the Army chief asserted that there was room forramping up heat on Pakistan that the Army will continue its policy of hotpursuit in dealing with militancy.

“The political initiative and all the other initiatives must gosimultaneously hand-in-hand and only if all of us function in synergy, wecan bring lasting peace in Kashmir. It has to be a politico-militaryapproach that we have to adopt,” the Army chief said.

In October, the government had appointed former Intelligence Bureau chiefDineshwar Sharma as its special representative for a “sustained dialogue”with all stakeholders in J-K.

“When the government appointed an interlocutor, it is with that purpose. Heis the government’s representative to reach out to the people of Kashmirand see what their grievances are so that those can then be addressed at apolitical level,” the army chief said.

Asked whether there is room for ramping up pressure on Pakistan to force itto stop sending terrorists to the state, he said, “Yes, you cannot bestatus quoist. You have to continuously think and keep moving forward. Youhave to keep changing your doctrines and concept and the manner in whichyou operate in such areas.”

Gen Rawat said the army will have to evolve new strategies and new tacticsto deal with the situation. At the same time, he said an overall approachwas required to deal with the Kashmir issue.

Since beginning of last year, the army pursued an aggressive anti-terrorpolicy in Jammu and Kashmir and, at the same time, forcefully responded toall ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control witha tit-for-tat approach.

“Military is only part of the mechanism to resolve the Kashmir issue. Ourcharter is to ensure that the terrorists who are creating violence in thestate are taken to task and those who have been radicalised and areincreasingly moving towards terrorism are prevented from doing so,” he said.

Gen Rawat said some youths continue to be radicalised and are joiningmilitancy. The Army has been trying to maintain pressure on terror groups,he said.

The Army’s aim is to ensure that it continues to maintain the pressure onthe terrorists and those fomenting trouble there, Gen Rawat said.

“But at the same time, we have to also reach out to the people,” he said.

Asked whether the situation in Kashmir has improved since he has taken overas the Army chief a year ago, Gen Rawat said, “I am only seeing a marginalchange in situation for the better.

“I do not think it is time to become over confident and start assuming thatthe situation has been brought under control because infiltration fromacross the borders will continue.”

The LoC has remained volatile in the last year. According to officialfigures, 860 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops werereported in 2017 as against 221 the year before.