Need to shift focus from border with Pakistan to that with China: Army chief Bipin Rawat

“The time has come for India to shift focus to its northern border. The country is capable of handling China's assertiveness. China is a powerful country but we are not a weak nation," the army chief said. 

India and China were locked in a 75-day standoff last year at Doklam on the trijunction with Bhutan over the building of a road by the Chinese military. This month Indian troops thwarted attempts by Chinese engineering teams to build a road near the border town of Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh. 

Rawat said border personnel from both sides met two days ago to discuss the Tuting incident. “The Tuting incident has been resolved," he told reporters in New Delhi. 

Rawat said the impact of US warnings on Pakistan over its handling of terrorism remains to be seen. 

“Terrorists are a disposable commodity in Pakistan and the Indian Army approach has been to ensure that it feels the pain," he said. 

On Kashmir , the Army chief said the counter-insurgency operations will be shifted to northern areas this year. 

"In 2017, our focus of the operations was in south Kashmir. This year it will shift to north Kashmir's Baramulla, Pattan, Handwara, Kupwara, Sopore and Lolab and some northern areas of Bandipore so that the infiltration can be thwarted there," he said. 

He also stressed the need for inducting modern weaponry to prepare the army to fight battles of the future. 

“We need modern weapons and technology. We have to look at what we require to fight the future wars. We have to get systems that are best suited for our requirements," he said adding, “We need to have capacities to ensure that ammunition can move from one sector to another and we are focusing on it. We also need to build capacity to move forces from western sector to northern sectors." 

PTI contributed to the story.