Terrorism a menace which is spreading its head like a `multi-headed monster`: Army Chief Bipin Rawat

Army Chief Bipin Rawat on Wednesday warned that terrorism cannot be wiped out untill "nations continue to sponsor it as state policy". He stated that terrorism is becoming a new form of warfare. Speaking at a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue in the national capital, the Army Chief said that terrorism is a menace which is spreading its head like a "multi-headed monster".

Terrorism is here to stay as long as there are nations that continue to sponsor it as a state policy, Rawat said, without naming Pakistan.

"Terrorism is becoming a new form of warfare. A weaker nation is using terrorists as a proxy to put pressure on another nation to come to terms with it," he said. He also asserted that Pakistan has always kept the Taliban in its backyard and should be concerned about it. On the Afghan peace process, he said there should be negotiations with the Taliban, but without conditions.

Rawat also said that there was a need to control social media as it was becoming a source of spreading radicalisation. He said a different kind of radicalisation was being witnessed in India and in Jammu and Kashmir, the youth were getting radicalised due to a lot of misinformation, disinformation, and a lot of falsehoods on religion being fed to them.

Radicalisation through social media is becoming one of the reasons for raising funds for terrorists organisations. "That is why you find more and more educated youth being drawn into terrorism," he said.

"Terrorism is here to stay as long as there are nations that continue to sponsor it as state policy. Terrorism now spreading its head like a multi-headed monster. Terrorism becoming a new form of warfare," said General Rawat.

"Pakistan always kept Taliban in its backyard. Pakistan should be concerned about it. There should be negotiations with Taliban, but without conditions," he added.

"Need to control social media as it is becoming a source of spreading radicalisation. Radicalisation has taken a different form in our country. In Jammu and Kashmir, youth is getting radicalised due to misinformation & falsehood about religion being fed to them. This is becoming a form of warfare," he further said.

"Biggest issue is that the social media needs to ensure that radicalisation does not happen through false information and misinformation. Radicalisation through social media is becoming one of the reasons for raising funds for terrorists organisations," he added.

Raisina Dialogue is India's annual flagship event on geopolitics organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF).