Ramzan ceasefire an opportunity to engage with youth who have joined militancy: Lt Gen Satish Dua

When asked about the youth in Jammu and Kashmir joining militancy and ceasefire announced by the government, he said “It is unfortunate to see youth continuing to join the militancy. The government has now declared a unilateral ceasefire for one month. The whole purpose of this ceasefire is that during this holy month of Ramzan, we will not initiate operations so that the civil society, government organisations and elders of the society can engage with these children. After all they our own children, they are just misguided youth. This one month is an opportunity to engage with these children and an attempt to bring them back into the mainstream. We hope that there are positive results.”

When asked about the possibility of aggression from the other side, Lt Gen Dua said, “The ceasefire order has a qualifier. If terrorists attack our forces, we reserve the right to retaliate in self defense.” 

Speaking about the tri-services integration between Army, Navy and the Air Force, Lt Gen Dua said, “For last couple of years, the Prime Minister has given great thrust on integration between these three services. Many areas have been identified where this integration is already there and where it needs to be enhanced. Training establishments are being combined and Tri-services exercises are also being carried out. While in the emerging fields like Cyber and Space, tri-services agencies like Defense Cyber Agency and Defense Space agency are in the pipeline.”