Gen Roychowdhury, who commanded the 16 corps in Kashmir at the height of the militancy in the early 1990s, said buoyed by the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, Pakistan "will make a fresh bid on Kashmir"

Chowdhury Kolkata: The government needs to step up its outreach in Jammu and Kashmir, reassuring the people that India will continue to be a secular democracy as the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan is likely to trigger a renewed offensive by Pakistan-based terror groups in the region, former Army chief General Shankar Roychowdhury said. Gen Roychowdhury, who commanded the 16 corps in Kashmir at the height of the militancy in the early 1990s, said buoyed by the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, Pakistan "will make a fresh bid on Kashmir".

He said that India needs to reach out to former Afghan government forces rallying around Ahmad Massoud, son of late legendary anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, in Panjshir Valley, besides the factions within the Taliban that are friendlier to India. "We have to step up our outreach to Kashmiris, we also have to re-assure them that India will continue to be a secular democracy," he told .