NEW DELHI, Feb 23: Pakistani troops have been too preoccupied with their campaigns on the western border to pose problems for India in the foreseeable future and, moreover, Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s professionalism as a soldier is itself a reassuring feature of the evolving scenario with Islamabad, Indian Army Chief Deepak Kapoor has said.
“With the elections now having taken place, I think the security situation in Pakistan, if it now gets stabilised, should improve,” Gen Kapoor told CNN-IBN in an interview excerpts of which were made available on Saturday.
“When the things were turbulent we were a little worried … and therefore we were very vigilant on the borders. But now that elections have taken place and, hopefully, in the next few days they will have a government (and) we would be able to talk to a democratically elected government to resolve some of our differences.”
In reply to a question during the Devil’s Advocate programme, Gen Kapoor said: “I think General Kayani is a professional soldier and he has gone through the mill and come up as a capable officer and I think he would be able to handle the Pakistani army professionally…Some of the measures that he has taken, I think it’s reassuring to have a person who is a professional soldier at the head of the army.”
According to the excerpts of the interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Gen Kapoor said that whilst the number of cross-border infiltrations along the LoC had declined, attempts or bids to infiltrate had gone up in 2007. In 2006 the infiltration was approximately 343 as per the army’s count. In 2007 it was 311. “So there’s a marginal decline so far as infiltration numbers are concerned. But as far as the attempts or bids (are concerned) they were slightly higher in 2007.”
