India not competing with Pak — Army chief

“We need to have adequate conventional strength and do need strategic weapons to defend our interests. With economic interests and large population we should be able to defend ourselves,” he added.

Describing the post Pokhran-II scenario, the chief emphasised on the security needs and AGNI-II tests was therefore the logical conclusion, he felt. Speaking to the officers at theGarrison, he talked of global and regional scenario bringing out the conflict situations in Europe and in our neighbourhood. The chief also spoke of Pakistan’s role in promoting the proxy war and continued support to militancy in the state which was undermining improvement in relations.

Though chances of conventional war cannot be completely ruled out in the present day scenario, he said that the chances of it happening are slim.

“Conventional war cannot be ruled out but it will be limited both in time and space. Chances are more of low intensity conflict,” he said. And for this, soldiers need better equipment, training and weapons, he added.

“Present day balance of power is making developing countries more vulnerable to low level conflict and exploitation of ethnic groups,” he said. On the training of troops he said that the emphasis was on enhanced technical and tactical skills. “The training should stress on assimilation of and absorption of Information Technology (IT) as a force multiplier,”he added.

The chief also said that junior leaders ought to come forward and take command of the situation. “The Junior Leader Training Academy for junior commissioned officers (JCOs) has been opened in Bareilly. This will give more opportunities for JCOs to improve knowledge. Study leave has been liberalised for officers to enhance their professional and general awareness,” he added. While all emphasis is being laid on improvement of living conditions and standards of all ranks, yet all out effort will be made to retain military ethos and value system.