Maintain operational preparedness along borders: Gen Suhag

Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag on Monday asked his top commanders to maintain a very high degree of vigil and operational preparedness along “disputed” borders.

Addressing the three-day Army Commanders’ Conference, which started here on Monday, General Suhag stressed on the necessity of speeding up the Army’s modernisation and capability development initiatives.

The conference comes in the backdrop of the recently concluded exercise ‘Shatrujeet’, in which 30,000 soldiers took part. The soldiers honed their skills to counter chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear warfare among other attacks.

Singh stressed on the necessity to maintain a very high degree of vigil and operational preparedness along “disputed” borders, a statement by the Army said. He complimented the commanders and troops for “successfully executing recent counter-terrorism operations while displaying due restraint”.

He emphasised that all commanders should continuously monitor and maintain internal health, values and ethics in all formation and units, it said. The conference is the highest level Army meet held to discuss the current internal and external strategic issues, review of operational preparedness of Indian Army and aspects pertaining to training, administration, military technology and force modernisation.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also addressed the conference, among others.