All three services ready to defend the country: Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane

NEW DELHI: Newly-appointed Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Wednesday assured that the country's armed forces are fully prepared to meet any eventuality and always ready to make supreme sacrifices in the line of duty. ''I pray to Waheguru ji to give me courage and strength to perform my duties as the Chief of Army Staff. All three services are ready to defend the country,'' General Naravane said.

Ahead of that, the Army Chief General paid tribute to the martyrs at National War Memorial here. General Naravane saluted the 'Amar Jawan Jyoti', the eternal flame, and laid a wreath at the memorial.

Speaking to media, Gen Narvane said, ''Our priority will be to be operationally prepared at all times. We will pay special attention to respect human rights.'' Gen Naravane had on Tuesday taken charge as the 28th Army Chief and asserted that he has a good idea of not only the training part of the Army but also the operational part.

He further said that its important to continue to maintain high standards of operational readiness. He added that the Army will observe New Year celebratory meeting all across the Line of Control (LoC).

"Due to my experience in the Army, particularly the last couple of tenures, I have been able to get a good idea of not only the training part but also the operational part. So, I feel most important is to continue to maintain high standards of operational readiness," General Naravane said in an interview to news agency ANI.

Speaking to the media on terrorism, General Naravane called it a worldwide problem, adding that India has been at the receiving end of terrorism for a long time. He also added that it is only now that the entire world and many countries affected with terrorism are coming to realise what a threat it is.

The Army Chief, speaking on Pakistan, said the "neighbour is trying to use terrorism as a tool of state policy, as a way of carrying out a proxy war against India". "As far as our neighbour is concerned they are trying to use terrorism as a tool of state policy, as a way of carrying out a proxy war against us. While maintaining deniability. However, this state can't last long, as they say you can't fool all the people, all the time," added General Naravane.

Speaking on Jammu and Kashmir, the Army Chief said that after the abrogation of Article 370 there has been a definite improvement in the situation on the ground. "Incidents of violence have seen a marked decline, this augurs very well for the population of J&K. It's a step forward towards bringing peace & prosperity to the region," added General Naravane.

General Naravane, who was the Vice Chief of Army Staff, succeeded General Bipin Rawat whose three-year term as Army chief ended on Tuesday. It is to be noted that General Rawat was appointed as India's first Chief of Defence Staff on Monday (December 30).

With General Naravane's taking over as the Chief of Army Staff, all the three services Chiefs including Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh are now from the 56th course of the National Defence Academy.

In his 37 years of service with Indian Army, General Naravane served in several command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter-insurgency environments in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.