‘J&K move timed to avoid fresh violence, checkmate Pak’: Army chief Bipin Rawat

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One month after the nullification of Article 370 of the Constitution, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has backed the timing of the move, and called upon the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the militants to give peace a chance.

‘Another phase of violence was going to start and the timing was right because Pakistan was also under pressure of being placed on theblack list by the Financial Action Task Force. I told the government the army would provide the military support it needed to implement the decision,’ Rawat said in an interview.

FATF, a multilateral watchdog, placed Pakistan on its ‘grey list’ in June 2018 for failing to counter fund-raising by terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Following an assessment meeting in June in Florida, it urged Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan to counter terror financing by October 2019. ‘Otherwise, the FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress,’ the watchdog said, indicating it may place the country on its ‘black list’, which entails harsher financial sanctions.