India can do a Myanmar elsewhere too

Kolkata: The Indian Army has sent out a "strong message" with its operation against militants along the India-Myanmar border, and "it can be other country in the future", its former chief, General Shankar Roychowdhury said here Thursday.

"We always had the capability, but this time India has displayed that it also has the political will," Gen. Roychowdhury told IANS.

"We will strike if there are provocations from those who have taken shelter across any international border," he said.

"If it was Myanmar this time, it can be other country in the future. Yes, we have sent out a strong message," the general said.

The Indian Army's Special Forces on Tuesday carried out a covert strike involving two attacks along the Indo-Myanmar border on camps located in Myanmarese territory, and inflicting substantial casualties on terrorists.

The strike drew a sharp reaction from Pakistan, but Roychowdhury was unperturbed.

"India-Pakistan relations are not good and whatever tensions are there, they will continue to exist.

"The situation in Pakistan is not good and there is no chance of improvement. So I don't think there is any need to read much into what personalities in Pakistan are saying," he said.

"The strike may or may not act as a deterrence for Pakistan, that I cannot comment, but personally I welcome this strike," added Roychowdhury.

Reacting to the Indian Army's offensive, Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had said India should not mistake his country for Myanmar, asserting that "Pakistan Army is fully capable of responding to any adventurism".