We're an Army of people and for people: Army Chief

New Delhi : Army Chief Gen M M Naravane on Saturday asserted that the conduct of the 1.3 million-strong Army will be guided by its "allegiance" to the Constitution and its core values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, comments which came in the backdrop of criticism that the military was politicised under his predecessor.

Gen Naravane, addressing a press conference on the eve of the Army Day, also said that his force can take control of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir if it gets orders from political authority.

Delving into evolving security matrix in the region, he said the Army is taking a raft of measures including moving advanced weapons and developing infrastructure to "rebalance" its operational preparedness to deal with challenge along the frontier with China.

Talking about his overall focus as chief of the Army, Gen Naravane said it will be 'ABC' -- "allegiance, belief and consolidation", noting that protecting the core values of the Constitution will remain the driving force of his personnel.

"We swear allegiance to the Constitution of India. Be it officers or jawans, we have taken oath to protect the Constitution and that is what should guide us in all time and all our actions," the Army Chief said.

"What it translates into is also the core values which are enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution which are justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.

That is what we are fighting for," he said. "We are deployed on the border safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity, it is to secure for our people these core values.

And, I think, that is what we and I would like to say that we need to keep in mind," he added.

Gen Naravane took charge as Army Chief on December 31, succeeding Gen Bipin Rawat. In his three-year tenure as Army Chief, Gen Rawat faced allegations of not remaining politically neutral and allowing politicisation of the Army.

Last month, he triggered a huge row after he publicly criticised people leading protests over the new citizenship law, saying leadership is not about guiding masses to carry out arson and violence across the country.

He was slammed by opposition parties as well as former military officers who stressed that the armed forces must follow the decades-old principle of serving the country and not any political force.

Asked whether top Army commanders should comment on domestic legislation, Gen Naravane said his force will not go wrong in discharging its duties if it understands the importance of protecting core values enshrined in the Constitution including the rights of the citizens.

"We are an Army of the people and for the people," he said, adding "We are not seeking any publicity and will continue to serve the nation to the best of our ability."

Asked whether the Army was ready to free PoK from Pakistan's control, the Army Chief referred to a parliamentary resolution of 1994, and said his force was ready to follow orders.

"As far as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is concerned, many years ago there was a parliamentary resolution on it that entire J and K is part of India.

If Parliament wants that area should also belong to us, if we get orders to that effect, then definitely we will take action on it," Gen Naravane said.