An aggressive former army chief General V.K. Singh on Saturday that had he wanted to stop incumbent Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh from assuming charge, he could have done so.
He told ANI in an exclusive interview here, that there was a case pending against General Bikram Singh in a Jammu and Kashmir court, and that would have been reason enough for him to stop his promotion.
"There is a case against Bikram Singh in the J and K High Court which has been going on. If we wanted to create problems which (the newspaper) is mentioning, we would have changed the stance of the army which it took when the incident occurred. We have not done it. It involves the killing of a man, a 70-year-old, who is labeled as a foreign terrorist. There is no terrorist in J and K who is more than 30 to 40-years-old. And therefore, there was a hue and cry raised by humanitarian groups in J and K because there was a family, a poor Gujjar family, who identified this man to be there's," said General (Retd.) Singh.
"That is what has been happening. If we wanted to create problems, as has been averred, lot of things would have happened. And, let me assure you in recent times, as I believe, the Government of J and K has been putting pressure through the administration on the court and all other places, as the reports keep coming all over through the media to ensure that they can get exoneration in this particular case," he added.
Confirming the findings of an army inquiry panel into the dubious workings of a secret intelligence unit set up in 2010 by General (Retd.) Singh, the government on Friday said it had taken steps to prevent such 'undesirable activities', but was yet to decide about ordering a CBI inquiry.
"The report impinges on matters of national security and, as such, the government will take a decisions and further actions after a careful examination of the report," said Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar, confirming that the government had received a report from Army Headquarters about the functioning of the now-disbanded unit called Technical Services Division (TSD).
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"It is further clarified that the MoD has not taken any decision for a CBI inquiry into the issues raised in the army's report," Kar said.
Media reports has claimed that General (Retd.) Singh set up a special unit in the army which tried to destabilize the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
The report claims that a secret Board of Officers inquiry has recommended that the CBI look into the matter.
Media report also claims that the unit set up by General (Retd.) Singh called the Technical Services Division (TSD), a part of Military Intelligence, tried to block General Bikram Singh's promotion.
The reports said that the Board of Officers' recommendation has been examined by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Defence.
The report was prepared by Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia as part of a Board of Officers (BOO) formed by General Bikram Singh to review the functioning of the top secret unit set up under his predecessor.