Comparing Army chief to General Dyer is sad: Lanba

Comparing Army chief Bipin Rawat to General Dyer, who had earned notoriety for ordering the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, is a "sad comparison", his naval counterpart Admiral Sunil Lanba said on Thursday.

Academician Partha Chatterjee, in a piece published on a news website, had drawn comparison between Rawat and Dyer after the former commended Major Leetul Gogoi's action of using a civilian as a human shield in Kashmir. "It is a sad comparison and is uncalled for," Lanba said.

On April 13, 1919, Dyer had ordered firing on unarmed people gathered at the Jallianwala Baug in Amritsar.

The Navy chief was speaking on the sidelines of an flag- in ceremony of Indian Naval Mountaineering Team.

In an interview, Rawat had also said that the Indian Army is fully ready for a "two-and-a-half front (China, Pakistan and internal security requirements simultaneously) war".

Lanba sought to buttress the point, saying that "the Indian armed forces are always ready for any contingency". The Navy chief will visit Israel soon and meet chiefs of the three services of the Jewish nation. His visit comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel. "We have an in-depth defence relationship. We will exchange notes," Lanba said, but did not elaborate further on his scheduled visit.

Reacting to a report by US Department of Defence (DoD) that China is likely to establish additional military bases in Pakistan and other countries with which it has longstanding friendly ties and similar strategic interests, he said the Navy was monitoring the development. "It is an assessment which is there in the report. We have our own assessment and we will see what happens in the future," Lanba said.