Rana draws flak for China remark
DELHI, OCT 06 -
Nepal Army chief Gen Gaurav SJB Rana has drawn severe criticism for making a ‘political comment’ going beyond the protocol during his India visit where he had said the “Indian Army is capable of giving strong response to China in case of an attack or war”.
In an exclusive interview with the Times of India (TOI) on Friday, Gen Rana had said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could not enter India. “China is too pre-occupied with the Tibetan issue. And, then there is Xinjiang region facing the separatist movement. The PLA cannot afford to enter India, or for that matter Nepal. Whether it’s the mighty Himalayas or the Indo-Gangetic plains, they have no reasons to make incursions into India. There are no provocations,” TOI quoted Rana as saying in Chandigarh. Rana was on a week-long official visit to India. He returned Kathmandu on Saturday.
“An officiating Army chief should not be making a political comment like this,” Ashok Mehta, retired major general of the Indian Army and Nepal expert told the Post. “He acted like he was visiting here in the capacity of the prime minister.”
Many readers commented on his remarks on the online edition of the TOI, urging him not to make inept comments on Indo-Nepal and regional affairs in the capacity of the Army chief.
Mehta said his comment has undermined security sensitivity of the country. “If he has not been misquoted, he has said that the incursion of the PLA into the Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh is a common occurrence, which is an unauthorised and undiplomatic comments for an Army chief to make.”
“China cannot afford to enter India even as he sought to stick to his country’s non-alignment policy for not offering military support to either country in case of a war,” TOI quoted Rana’s dismissive comment on the recent reports of 640 sq km incursion in Ladakh by the Chinese PLA.
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