Pakistan Army, ISI presence near India’s chicken’s neck area a concern: Army chief Upendra Dwivedi

Army chief Upendra Dwivedi

Expressing concern about the presence of Pakistan Army and ISI officials in Bangladesh areas close to India's chicken's neck area, India Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said anti-India elements must not use that soil to send terrorists to India.

The Pakistan army and ISI officials recently visited “very sensitive” areas near the Indian border, near the chicken's neck in Bangladesh.

"I had used the word epicentre of terrorism for a particular country (Pakistan). Now those countrymen, if they go to any other place and they happen to be our neighbor, as far as I am concerned, I should be concerned about it. That they should not be able to use that soil to send terrorists to India. That is as far as that is concerned," General Dwivedi told ANI.

Chicken’s Neck is a narrow strip of land in West Bengal, that connects India’s northeastern states to the rest of the country.

Promo | EP-262 | First-Ever Podcast with Indian Army Chief premieres today at 5 PM IST"The Army should not be involved in politics..." Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi's message to Leader of Opposition Rahul GandhiMore on India-China disengagement and the rise in pic.twitter.com/QEhIib1u8c
ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2025

Dwivedi said relations with the administration can be defined only if there is an elected government.

Dwivedi said that the military relationship, however, is very strong with Bangladesh.

"But so the military relationship is very strong. And we are able to exchange notes whenever we want. And that's what we have been doing," he said.

When General Dwivedi was asked if Pakistan has yet understood that Kashmir is part of Indian territory, Dwivedi gave the example of the movie Guide, in which a madman says, “I won't eat until it rains”.

"See, they are stuck in their own words. There is a movie of Dev Anand Ji, I think Narayan Ji has written this book. Do you remember when Devanand Ji became a sadhu in the past? A madman went and announced that he would not have food until it rained. Now the Pakistan Army once said that we have to do this. Now they don't have a way out of it. So they will continue to go for it, look, Kashmir, this is point number one. The second thing is, if you read the book Revenge of Geography, written by Robert Kaplan, both sides of the Indus, can they be one? That's a big question you have to see," he told ANI.