"Will get back PoK if Parliament wants": Indian Army chief General MM Naravane

"There is a parliamentary resolution that entire J&K is part of India," General Naravane said.

Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Saturday said that the Indian Army will act on getting back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) if the Parliament was willing and the army received orders to such effect.

The Army chief was speaking at a press conference in New Delhi where he was asked if PoK can be a part of India as stated by the political leadership. In response to the question, General MM Naravane said that there is a parliamentary resolution stating that the entire Jammu & Kashmir is a part of India, and hence the army will take appropriate action if it receives orders to take PoK back.

"There is a parliamentary resolution that entire J&K is part of India. If Parliament wants it, then PoK also should belong to us. When we get orders to that effect, we'll take appropriate action," General Naravane said.

The COAS was also asked a few questions regarding the death of the two unarmed civilians in J&K a day earlier. In an unfortunate incident, the two civilians - Mohd Aslam and Altaf Hussain were killed, and two others were critically injured in an attack by the Pakistani Army in the Poonch district of Jammu & Kashmir. According to reports, the unarmed civilians had crossed the fencing over the fencing on the Line of Control (LoC) for grazing their cattle but were still within Indian territory. Responding to this incident, General Naravane said that the Indian Army would deal with the situation appropriately 'in a military manner'.

"We do not resort to such barbaric activities and fight as a very professional force. We will deal appropriately with such situations in a military manner," the Army Chief was quoted by news agency ANI in response to a question.

Next, he shed some light on the reformation of the internal structure of the Indian Army as a means of modernising and integrating it, to help in better dealing with threats in the future. To this extent, General Naravane said that the formation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post was a fairly big step towards integration. He added that the army swears allegiance to the Constitution of India and hence works under the ideal of 'justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity' as enshrined in the constitution.

"As the Army, we swear allegiance to the Constitution of India...Justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity enshrined in the Constitution should guide us. We will have to train for the future and that is where the emphasis of our training will be," he further added.

The COAS also said that today the country's armed forces are better prepared than before to meet any challenges and they will continue to train themselves for future warfare.

"Indian Army is prepared to deal with challenges along the northern border. Men behind the machine matter the most. We will make sure that our men get the best and we will look into all their aspirations, needs," General Naravane said at the press conference.