Shillong: Army chief General V K Singh
today said army personnel needed "certain legal protection" in
"awkward" situations and it was up to the government on how it should be provided.
"We are not against the people or democracy. When you
employ the army for situations which are awkward... where
they have to face well-armed, well-trained terrorists, they
require a certain amount of legal protection. How that it is
done, we leave it to the Central government," Singh said when
asked about the move to dilute certain sections of the
controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
General Singh said, "We can`t let our people get
hauled to court... we cannot have our people being subjected
to all kinds of allegation.
"Wherever the army is operating, it is operating with
its hands tied. We have impose on ourselves certain
restriction because we are operating against our own people."
The army also needs assurances about its protection
when things would go wrong, he added.
PTI
