Indian Defence Review

Fighting counter insurgency/counter terrorist (CI/CT) operations, one thing is quite clear that our neighbour has been waging a Proxy War in J & K. Few things can be deduced from this – one, it is a ‘war’ and everything is fair in love and war; two, wars are fought in time and space, and three, as contained in the Israeli National Security Doctrine, “wars must be fought in the enemy’s territory and enemy’s forces must be defeated as quickly as humanly possible”.

In this context, we seem to have failed on all three counts. We have not been able to evolve a strategy to defeat Pakistan’s designs and have been only defensive, nay reactive. Our successive Govts have been standing on moral high ground of not crossing the Line of Control (LC) whether it is while conducting the CI operations or fighting the Kargil Conflict, whether Pakistanis came in, killed our soldiers and took away their heads or sent in their nationals to brutally kill civilians in Mumbai and elsewhere. We have always been trying to create friendly relations with them, conduct trade with them on unfavourable terms, having meetings in Shimla, Agra and God knows where all, celebrating birthdays with their leaders, playing cricket and organising cultural events with them, so on and so forth, but to no avail.

We have lost out precious time since 1989, but have not been able to enlarge the space (across the LC) in which to conduct CI/CT operations. By saying this, it is not intended that our Armed Forces cross the LC to wage a war or destroy their defence installations or bombard their terrorist camps, but we should have been able to pay Pakistan in the same coin by unleashing the type of activities she has been conducting in J & K, if need be with greater ferocity and ingenuity. We should have taken all measures (fair and unfair, since it is a war (so what, if by proxy)) to expand the area of conflict into Pakistan (POK and elsewhere) and forced her to react to our actions rather than be reactive to her moves. We should have been able to cause unacceptable cost, on Pakistan, of waging war against us, but alas! we have failed miserably in doing so.

Why have we been agreeing with Pakistan that it is the Kashmir problem that prevents the two nations to have cordial relations? Why have we not been able to emphasize that it is the problem of POK and its unification with Kashmir that is the stumbling block? Unfortunately, all these years we have been brought up to believe that it is presenting the other cheek which got us freedom from the British, negating the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Udham Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose and many more like them.

It has been proved, during both the World Wars, that a defensive strategy can never win wars for you. A force which remains defensive would sooner or later be overwhelmed by the aggressor. That is why the concept of offensive defence is practised even while one remains on the defensive. In any case, a defensive strategy can at best give you a stalemate, but not victory. In order to deter an adversary from creating mischief, one has to go on the offensive. We seem to have learnt nothing from history and have been satisfied with defending our territory, but not our men, while engaging in the proxy war being waged by our wily neighbour.

Fighting the proxy war for over quarter of a century, we seem to be standing at the same place where it all started. In this period, we have lost thousands of our people, both uniformed and civilians. What have we gained in the bargain – a section of our population alienated and clamouring for Azadi, a large part of our Army, CAPF, state police force, intelligence agencies etc. committed round the clock to keep vigil and conduct operations against and unknown and unseen enemy, degradation of army’s capability to fight a conventional war, erosion of our war fighting machinery – both men and material, diversion of a sizable part of our GDP from other developmental activities, death of tourism industry leading to utter poverty and misery to the locals; the list is endless.

We need to change our strategy, if we, as a nation, want to bring situation in the Valley under our control. Some suggestion are :-

First and foremost, we need to shed our image of being a soft power like an empty vessel that makes much noise. We must not be scared of what the world or the Amnesty International and other similar organisations will think of us. If our house is on fire, we have to take all actions at our disposal to quell that fire. It hurts nobody if our people die or our property gets destroyed or our economy suffers. Israel, which has fought insurgency for a long period, took a tough stand, but did not allow its national objectives to be compromised. What have Russia, USA and other coalition forces been doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and more recently in Egypt and Syria? They have been meddling into other nation’s affairs using extreme force. Aren’t we allowed to do the same to protect our own national objectives? Only we have to be firm in our resolve to act.

We must go on a diplomatic offensive, with an intensity that has never been seen before, to expose and isolate Pakistan internationally. Our efforts must be sustainable and we should not allow any let up, if Pakistan or any of her accomplices try to scuttle them by playing the victim card. Alternatively, we should sever all our relations, diplomatic, cultural, economic, trade, travel and so on with her. We can have these relations with the whole world, but Pakistan. Why should we run to re-establish relations with Pakistan every time we snap them following a terrorist strike or military action. Is it so difficult for us as a nation to survive if we do not have relations with Pakistan? After all Cuba survived and prospered for decades without having any relations with USA, the sole super power.

More recently Iran and now North Korea have had grave sanctions imposed against them and isolated diplomatically, but they continue with their activities with impunity. Diplomatic isolation will have limited effect as both USA and China, for their vested interests, will not declare Pakistan a nursery of global terrorism and impose the toughest sanctions against it. We are seeing it clearly for so many years now.

We need to review our policy of maintaining ceasefire on the LC. Pakistan violates it at will whenever it wants to push the terrorist across the LC. We are always reactive and after returning fire for a day or two, it becomes business as usual. It is not as if all has been hunky dory on the LC since we have gone into a ceasefire with Pakistan. We continue to lose men and material as a result of ISI sponsored terrorism on the LC as well as in our hinterland. Though a harsh step that may be viewed negatively by the international community, Pakistan will have much to lose if LC is activated again. She and her military will find it really difficult to manage both her fronts – eastern and western – simultaneously with considerable drain on her economy. Coupled with the diplomatic isolation, this step may help in forcing Pakistan to tone down her strategy and reign in the terrorists.

We have to expand the area of conflict and, if need be, take the war to the adversary’s territory. In this context, our Prime Minister’s recent approach to bring into focus the plight of Baluchi people and Kashmiris livings in POK, in the international arena is the right one. Intensive use of technology to spot militants close to the LC or crossing it must be made and offensive action taken to eliminate them before they enter our territory. It may be more beneficial for us to spend our billions on acquisition of latest technology to maintain vigilance on the LC and the IB and save our men from dying or getting injured/incapacitated for life.

We have a media that is only concerned about the TRPs (visual) and increasing their circulation (print). They do not mind employing any means, fair or foul, to serve their commercial interests, national interests be damned. We need to learn from the western media which acted with utmost caution after the militant strikes in France and Belgium. In contrast, our media’s irresponsibility during the Mumbai attacks, Maqbool Bhatt or Afzal Rajguru’s hanging, Kanhaiya Kumar’s arrest, Burhan Wani’s killing and plethora of incidences of national interest need not be over emphasized. We seem to take our democracy and right to freedom of speech too far.

Our media should have the basic sense of differentiating between what is in national interest and what is not. While it is not intended to gag the media (which in any case is impossible in today’s world), our media needs to be responsible and careful while reporting. Raising of passions by sensational reporting must be resisted. Media should also assist in moulding the public opinion and perception management, not only in J & K, but the whole country and the world at large. If the current trend of reporting continues, some censorship of the media may have be enforced by the Govt. Training and education of reporters is a must to ensure national integration. sooner it is done, better it will be for the nation.

Vernacular media has been most irresponsible in creating tension by sensational reporting. Most of it is either financed, sponsored or fully controlled by opposing political parties who resort to half truths and coloured reporting to suit their political agenda. Countries inimical to a particular nation or who want to hinder its progress fund such media houses. When an external source is involved, such reporting becomes the fountainhead of black or grey propaganda. The damage caused to the efforts of the Govt and security forces is unimaginable. Intelligence, Tax and Enforcement Directorate and other law enforcement agencies need to keep a strict vigil on such media houses and initiate legal action to curb their activities, if required.

It has been a long known reality that a large number of politicians and businessmen support the militants and secessionists for their own petty personal interests. In the case of J & K, it is more true than in any other part of the country. The activities of personnel who are promoting secessionism and inciting people to indulge in arson, looting, stone pelting, damaging property and participating in other types of unlawful activities need to be watched constantly and stern legal action needs to be taken by the Govt, under the prevailing laws, in the interest of national security.

The political parties, both at the state and the Centre, must rise above their narrow political gains and weed out people who are running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. This is easier said than done. The inclusion of people with criminal and shady background in all the political parties, without exception, to stay in power, is a sad commentary on the way business of politics is conducted in our country. However, if the Prime Minister is really keen to sort things out in J & K and since the ruling party in the state has BJP as its coalition partner, it may be a bit easier to do it. Let all stakeholders be warned that the time is already running out and any further delay to turn the tide of events in J & K would be disastrous.