Bhubaneswar: Army Chief General S Padmanabhan on November 7 said the massing of troops on the international border with Pakistan had served the intended purpose.

This has sent out a clear message. Our strength is clearly known to the enemy, Gen Padmanabhan told reporters in Bhubaneswar.

The Army Chief, who arrived in Bhubaneswar earlier on the day on a three-day visit to the state, said the troops were sent there with a purpose, which had been substantially fulfilled.

A million-strong Army went to the border, trained there, and I am pulling them back for a better purpose. It's a wise move, I could exercise my whole Army in the process, he said.

The government announced on October 16 that it was pulling back its troops from the international border.

Stating that the Army's role on the borders had been clearly defined, Gen Padmanabhan said the whole exercise was triggered by the militant attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

Pakistan was identified as the perpetrator of the incident for which the Defence forces were mobilised, he said.

The ruler of Pakistan in his address on January 12 said that its soil would not be allowed to sponsor terrorism, which was a clear admission of the culpability of that country.

It amounted to saying we committed a mistake, it will not happen again, the Army Chief said.

Gen Padmanabhan, whose tenure as Army Chief would end on December 31, 2002, felt that the Army should not be called upon to do too many internal jobs.

No Army wants to do that, he said.

Asked as to what he would want the government to do for the Army, Gen Padmanabhan said the Army needed guaranteed availability of three per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the next 10 years. We should not be worrying about this, he added.

Besides, all our border areas should be looked after well as the country's true security lay there, he said adding the people living in these areas should not feel that their voice was not heard prominently.

The government should ensure that the infrastructure available to these people was even better than what it was at present.

Asked whether the new government in Jammu and Kashmir would be able to contain terrorism there, the Army chief said I devoutly hope it will be able to bring down militancy, I wish them good luck.

Replying to another question, he said that infiltration across the border had come down in the border states. If the year 2001 is taken as 100 per cent, it has come down to 46 per cent in 2002, he said.

PTI