China's People Liberation Army (PLA) now controls the northern part of the Doklam Plateau, Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat said on Friday. General Rawat was speaking to reporters in New Delhi.

Doklam - a tract of land simultaneously claimed by Bhutan and China - was the site of a bitter stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops last year.

Signalling a fundamental shift in the thinking among strategists in India, Gen Rawat said that India has for too long concentrated on the "western borders [Pakistan]...we need to look at the northern borders [China] and next generation warfare".

The army chief said that transgressions along the Line of Actual Control - the de-facto boundary between India and China - had increased manifold and that China was trying to put pressure on India.

India Today had first reported about a sudden spurt of transgressions, air-space violations soon after the Doklam stand-off ended.

Giving the first detailed account that led to the Doklam stand-off between India and China, General Rawat said: "China began constructing the road through the Doklam Plateau in 2000, but in 2016 it appeared that the status quo [of relative positions along the border] would be changed."

China came with more equipment and the apprehension was that ground positions would change in 2016 June and "forcing us to intervene", the army chief said.

Last year Indian troops blocked the PLA from constructing a road through the south Doklam Plateau sparking a 73-day stand-off in which troops were deployed eye-ball-to eye -ball.

The stand-off was resolved after Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervened and took up the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hamburg during the G-20 summit last year.

According to the army chief, the resolution to the stand-off, isn't permanent and there is no guarantee that PLA won't return after winter is over.

The "Chinese troops may" chose a different location. "China is trying to exert pressure, but we will not allow our territory to be encouraged. We will defend it which is our charter," General Rawat said.

Expanding the threats, the Chief of Army Staff said the Chinese focus may move to possibility of cyber attacks and information warfare rather than physical hostilities along the LAC.

Western Disturbance

On a separate note General Rawat said that eliminating terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir won't hurt Pakistan. "Terrorists are a perishable community, we have to inflict pain on the Pakistan Army," he said.

Gen Rawat added that Indian Army has been and will continue to target Pakistani posts and positions that are used by terrorist to infiltrate into India. "They [Pakistan Army] are now feeling the pain. We will continue till infiltration levels come down," he said.

Significantly Gen Rawat warned Pakistan not use the threat of nuclear war against India, "If Pakistan were to raise the nuclear boogie, I think we will call the bluff," he said.