Bid to ''revive'' insurgency in Punjab through ''external linkages'': Gen Rawat

New Delhi, November 3

Attempts are being made through “external linkages” to “revive insurgency” in Punjab and if early action is not taken, it will be too late, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said here on Saturday.

He was addressing a seminar on “Changing Contours of Internal Security in India: Trends and Responses” organised by defence think-tank CLAWS (Centre for Land and Warfare Studies). Gen Rawat is its patron.

He also said that attempts were being made, again through “external linkages” and “external abetment”, to revive insurgency in Assam.

“Punjab has been peaceful but because of these external linkages, attempts again are being made to revive insurgency in the state,” he said, adding that “we have to be very careful”. Punjab saw one of the worst phases of insurgencies in the 1980s during the pro-Khalistan movement.

Former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh also highlighted the issue, while  referring to a recent pro-Khalistan rally in the UK.

“Internal security is one of the biggest problems in the country, but the question is ‘why we have not been able to find a solution, because it has external linkages’,” Gen Rawat said. 

Asserting that insurgency cannot be dealt with military force, he pitched for adopting an approach in which all agencies, the government, civil administration, military and the police, work in an “integrated manner”.

“The resolution of the Naga insurgency can be a forerunner to the Manipur insurgency situation. There are some linkages between the two. But if that resolution does not satisfy Manipuris, then the insurgency in that state will take a different turn,” the Chief of Army Staff said. — TNS/PTI