By IDI

Army Chief General MM Naravane, on Wednesday, called the new Chinese border law as 'non-binding' to India. 

"Any law, which is not binding on other countries, is not legally tenable, and is not in keeping with the agreements that we have had in the past, obviously cannot be binding on us," he said while addressing the annual press conference before the Army Day on January 15.

Discussing the challenges being posed by China on India's northern border, he said, "We have continued to maintain the highest level of operational preparedness while at the same time engaging with the People's Liberation Army through dialogue."

The threat levels  “has not reduced” and “Force levels are more or less the same," he added.

“Our capabilities have increased manifold at the northern borders. We are in much better position than what we were an year and a half ago and are much better prepared to deal with any situation,” General added.

For the de-induction of troops from LAC, he spoke about the need for disengagement of troops followed by de-escalation of tensions.  

Speaking on the threat on the western front, General said, "there is an increase in the concentration of terrorists at various launch pads and there have been repeated attempts of infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC).” 

Facing the two fronts on the western and northern border, Indian army had reoriented its troops deployed on the frontlines. "Re-orientation of additional forces to the Northern Borders has been carried out, while retaining our punitive strike capability, along the Western Front," he added.

On the 'regrettable' Nagaland incidence of December 4,  he said, "We remain committed to the security of our countrymen, even in the conduct of operations. We have SOP(Standard Operating Procedure) that encapsulate our operational experience, which have stood the test of time. Appropriate action will be taken and corrective measures instituted to further refine our SOPs, based on the outcome of the investigation."

Speaking about the demilitarisation of Siachen, he said,“We are not averse to (demilitarisation). However, the precondition is to accept the positions at the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) before any disengagement takes places. Pakistan does not want to accept the AGPL."