New Delhi: India’s Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat today asserted that India has the hard power- the requisite military deterrence to take on Pakistan. Speaking on theme ‘Addressing the challenge of hybrid conflict in the 21st century’ at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, here, he however balanced his assertion by saying that “creating unrest in our neighbour’s country should not be our first choice.”
“As a nation, we have never been expansionist. We also believe in fairness. India strongly believes in living in peace and harmony with its neighbours. The well being and development of its people through sustained economic growth remains our continued focus are our core national interest. Thus, creating unrest in our neighbour’s country should not be our first choice,” he said while delivering the Y B Chavan memorial lecture, to a distinguished audience.
He added, “ We will continue working with all agencies which work on peace in our country. Our narrative is superior. What can be better than a vibrant democracy for a human mind and human aspiration to thrive upon? This narrative needs to be propagated better.”
Replying to a question, he said, “ Let me say that if you have to take on Pakistan, it cannot end in stalemate. Let me tell you we have this kind of (military) deterrence. If we have to take the call, it is possible to take the call. I don’t think, we should be concerned about this kind of capability we have with Pakistan.”
While warning that “cyber domain emerge as the next battleground’; he said that India’s advanced capabilities in space technology and GPS systems in South Asia which can be used to liquidate a recalcitrant adversary in cyber domain.” Recommending a pro active defence option against hybrid warfare, the Army Chief chalked out an action plan that entails coordination with agencies within India, working with international friends, communication of the right narrative to our people and harnessing of technology optimally.
The Army chief said that hybrid warfare warfare is very much organised. “It is gaining momentum these days and is becoming a new form of warfare. Therefore, this form of warfighting is all encompassing and rather than destroying the military capability of an enemy, it focusses on the population and infrastructure as being the centre of gravity. The use of the word hybrid warfare in military lexicon appears to be relatively new but let me tell you that it repeatedly comes into place in Arthashastra. It is nothing new to us.“
Replying to another question, the Army Chief said that Pakistan has very cleverly changed the complete demography of so called Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. “That is an issue that we have to look at but let us first look at our own part of Kashmir, bring it under control, get the system moving there and then start looking across.”
To the last question, General Rawat said that it is unfortunate that proliferation of internet and social media is attracting people to IS but they don’t really know IS ideology. If you ask them why they fly the black flag, they will tell you that it somehow it irritates the Indian security forces. If you ask them about’ Azadi’, it is not what we feel is ‘Azadi’. So, really speaking, most Kashmiris are actually confused about their own religion.