'No Proof That Terror Camps Have Reduced, Rise in Drug Smuggling': What New Army Chief Revealed
News 18General Manoj Pande, who took charge as the 29th Chief of the Army Staff after incumbent Gen MM Naravane retired from service, said on Saturday that cases of smuggling of illegal drugs has increased across the border in Jammu and Kashmir and further down south, ever since India’s success of counter-infiltration grid. Before taking charge as Vice Chief of Army Staff on February 1, Gen Pande was heading the Eastern Army Command that takes care of guarding the Line of Actual Control in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors. Gen Pande took charge of the Army at a time India is facing myriad security challenges including along the borders with China and Pakistan. The theaterisation plan was being implemented by India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash in December last.