India is in the thick of a bleeding war, aided and abetted both from inside and outside. Merely blaming the external virus will not help in the matter. What India needs to do is to apply the balm on internal wounds and at the same time immunize itself from the external virus.
Still, our definition of war is partaken from the model of the Bangladesh war of 1971. No wonder, while India has been bleeding form head to toe for the past one/two decades, we have been dismissing it as insurgency, terrorism, sponsored violence or even as ‘war-like-situation’. Some people are as naïve as to describe the situation in various states as law and order problems. While others, who are endowed with more clearvision, go to the extent of calling it a proxy-war. No one seems to accept, nay, not even Generals and Colonels that India has been involved in an active war, for the last 20 years. Perhaps, the nation awaits a clarion call from the ramparts of the Red Fort by the Prime Minister of India to formally tell the nation that it was at war. Such is the degree of thought-bankruptcy and mind-stagnation in India that we fail to clearly read the writing on the wall. .
Defense services and military analysts in India are primarily responsible for this mind-set of the people. They are the people who have been telling the nation that there was insurgency in Kashmir, a war-like-situation in Kargil, militancy in Assam and Punjab and law and order problems in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Matters are further complicated by the army, when it tells the nation that it should not be overly used for handling or tackling of militancy, terrorism and other so called law and order problems. And what is the reason? It feels that its prolonged deployment in internal security operations would hamper its preparations for their primary role. Pray, what is its primary role, if not to safeguard the sanctity and integrity of the nation? Do we think that the army is only there to watch the borders against external aggression?
This is where the basic flaw lies because the army too thinks modern war is all about a drama on the borders. This is the reason when most military-men shout at the top of their voice and vociferously plead to spare the army from such jobs as internal security (IS) duties and allow it to prepare for a future war. What future war are we thinking of if India loses the current war imposed on it? What good will be the army if there is no India tomorrow? In fact, deep maneuvering by the armies has not only been relegated to the last act of the war but sophistication in the weapon system, in terms of lethality, enhanced ranges and accuracy, has made it an insignificant act of war.
The concept of “˜unity in diversity of pluralistic nations like India serve as a testing laboratory for the exponents of the “˜Designer War to refine their doctrines.
Therefore, this much ado about nothing of the future war, fails to tickle the mind. It is this lop-sided thinking of the military minds which has disallowed the nation to understand the WOM and the Bleeding War it has been fighting. Consequently, we have looked at the internal situation in India in a compartmentalized and an isolated manner. Time has come when it must be viewed in a holistic and integrated manner to understand the intricacies of Bleeding War and WOM. The concept of ‘unity in diversity’ of pluralistic nations like India serve as a testing laboratory for the exponents of the ‘Designer War’ to refine their doctrines.
India will soon eclipse if it does not fight the Bleeding War with clear vision and proper understanding of this emerging military philosophy of war. National security is not only in terms of ensuring geographical integrity of borders from external dangers but it is also preserving the social stability, political unity and economical sanctity of its interests. And the modern war encompasses all these four fronts. This is what we need to understand. ‘War by Other Means’ or WOM does aim at disturbing social stability, political unity and economical sanctity.
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