Will have to deal with terror like US did after 9/11 attacks, says CDS Bipin Rawat

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat Thursday said the war on terrorism needs to continue and appealed to the international community to isolate nations that sponsor terror. "As long as there are states which sponsor terrorism, we will have to live with the menace. We need to take the bull by its horns. We've to bring an end to terrorism and that can only happen the way Americans started after 9/11," he said during an address at Raisina Dialogue 2020.

Rawat added that diplomatic isolation and blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) can be good measures to deal with terror. He also sought to put an end to online radicalisation "if we target the right persons. "We have to address the ideology of radicalisation," he said.

"Terrorism is here to stay so long as there are states that will sponsor terrorism and use terrorists as proxies, make weapons and funding available for them. The war on terror is not ending, it is something which is going to continue, we will have to live with it until we understand and get to the roots of terrorism," he said.

CDS Rawat also said that the only way to end terrorism is to wage a war against it as America did after the 9/11 attacks. "We have to bring an end to terrorism and that can only happen the way Americans started after 9/11, they said let's go on a spree on the global war on terror. To do that you need to isolate the terrorists, anybody who is sponsoring terrorism has to be taken to task."

General Bipin Rawat who was earlier the Army Chief of Staff was appointed as India's first CDS last month. General MM Naravane took over as the Army chief. Rawat will act as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-services matters, but will not exercise any military command, including over the three service chiefs.

(Inputs and image from The Indian Express)