India may have to consider other options if ceasefire violations continue: IAF chief

Asserting that repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan are “unacceptable”, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne today warned that India may have to look at “some other options for compliance” if such incidents continue.

“We have a Line of Control, we have a ceasefire agreement, we have certain structures and mechanisms which are sacrosanct and any violation of these with impunity, especially what has been happening in the last few months, is totally unacceptable.

“We are monitoring the situation carefully because if these things continue to be the way they are and these violations continue to take place, then perhaps we may have to look at some other options for compliance,” he told presspersons here on the sidelines of an NCC function.

The IAF chief, who is the senior-most armed forces officer in the country, was asked about the suggestions he has given to the political leadership on the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan Army.

Refusing to divulge the options being looked at by the Government, he said, “Options are options. We do not discuss these options openly. If the violations continue, we may have to look at the whole issue all over again.”

Asked how the military leadership would uphold the honour of soldiers such as the two jawans killed by the Pakistan Army, he said, “When you join the armed forces, you hold certain ethos, values and certain traditions of the country which you have to uphold.”

On January 8, Pakistan Army regulars infiltrated Indian territory in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir and killed and mutilated the bodies of Lance Naiks Sudhakar Singh and Hemraj there.

India has also been raising the issue of the rising number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the last one year.

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