The Indian military will take steps to recover Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) if there is a political directive to do so, even as it is rebalancing its forces to counter the threat of a collusive two-front war along its Western and Northern boundaries, the newly-appointed Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane said at a press conference in New Delhi on January 11.

"If we get a direction from Parliament, we will act on it....If that's the mandate, so be it," General Naravane said while referring to the resolution of the Indian Parliament of the early-1990s declaring PoK as an integral part of India.

"If we get a direction from Parliament, we will act on it....If that's the mandate, so be it," General Naravane said while referring to the resolution of the Indian Parliament of the early-1990s declaring PoK as an integral part of India

He made these remarks while responding to questions on whether the Indian Army had the capability to recover PoK in view of the recent statements by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that India would focus its attention on the recovery of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan.

"The bulk of the forces will be concentrated to deal with the primary front. We will adopt a more deterrent posture on the other front. Dual Task formations will be ready to move from the West to the East to meet emerging threats," the General elaborated on rebalancing efforts to ensure readiness on two fronts

General Naravane also declared that India was "rebalancing" its 1.3-million Army to meet the threat of a simultaneous two-front War, even as it is engaging China actively to keep peace on the disputed Himalayan boundary and activating a military hotline with China to defuse tensions. Earlier deployment was on the basis of perception of a greater threat on India's Western border, he said.

"The bulk of the forces will be concentrated to deal with the primary front. We will adopt a more deterrent posture on the other front. Dual Task formations will be ready to move from the West to the East to meet emerging threats," the General elaborated on rebalancing to ensure readiness on two fronts.

The Army Chief specified Siachen as an "area of possible collusion" against India. "The threat of collusion is maximum in Siachen and Shaksgam....It is important to keep the area in our possession," he said. In his first tour to a forward location after taking over as Army Chief on December 31, General Naravane visited the world's highest battlefield at Siachen on January 9 to review operational preparedness.

The Army Chief specified Siachen as an "area of possible collusion" against India. "The threat of collusion is maximum in Siachen and Shaksgam....It is important to keep the area in our possession," he said

He also announced that a military hotline will be activated soon to connect the Directorate-General of Military Operations at Indian Army Headquarters with the Headquarters of China's People's Liberation Army's Western Theatre Command.

"There were procedural aspects which needed to be sorted out. We have now resolved those issues," he announced, while speaking about efforts to maintain peace on the Chinese boundary.

The Army Chief also disclosed that Government approval for setting up of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGS) as part of a significant exercise to restructure the Army's war fighting elements is expected soon

General Naravane also said that the Indian Army was not letting its protracted involvement in counter-insurgency divert its focus from preparations to fight conventional wars. "Our long-term focus will always be on conventional wars. That's what we are preparing for. The threat from insurgency will be there for the foreseeable future. But for 63 Rashtriya Rifles Battalions and 46 Assam Rifles Battalions which are facing the brunt of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations, the regular Army is training for conventional war," he said. Even the major acquisition of equipment recently, including towed guns, ultra-light howitzers and electronic warfare equipment, were all meant for conventionnal war fighting, the General added. "We never lost sight of our primary aim while being engaged in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism," he said.

The Army Chief also disclosed that Government approval for setting up of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGS) as part of a significant exercise to restructure the Army's war fighting elements is expected soon. "We have sent the final proposal for 9 Corps to the Government for approval. The initial sanction to transition to IBG model will come soon," he said. The IBG concept will begin with the Yole-based 9 Corps after being validated in a major exercise recently in Arunachal Pradesh involving elements from the newly-raised Mountain Strike Corps and the Tezpur-based 4 Corps.