India gave a fitting reply to Pakistan for the beheading of Lance Naik Hemraj along the Line of Control in 2013, said the outgoing Chief of the Army Staff General Bikram Singh here on Thursday.
Gen. Singh, the 25th Army Chief and the second Sikh to hold the post after General J.J. Singh, will be succeeded by General Dalbir Singh, who is the second officer from the Gorkha Rifles unit after Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw to become chief.
While Gen. Singh admitted to frequent “face-offs” between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control, he said the “robust mechanisms in place” prevented matters from exacerbating.
However, he did not rule out the possibility of future skirmishes along the LoC.
“On the western front, you know very well that it is the Line of Control which has traditionally been a very active border, and at the tactical level, there is firing always from across the border,” he said.
Gen. Singh, recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal, had previously served as the head of the Army’s Eastern Command.
Last year, he was inducted into the International Fellows Hall of Fame of the United States Army War College, from where he graduated in 2004, for his significant and enduring military and humanitarian contribution to international peace and stability.
