http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101017/edit.htm#1
Excerpts:
What are the current and future threats to India? Is the Army ready with a long-term defensive and offensive plan to tackle them?
We are preparing ourselves to operate in the entire spectrum. So far as the conventional operations are concerned, whether it is conventional with a nuclear backdrop or low intensity, something which is akin to proxy war border skirmishes, we are prepared for everything. As far as the non-conventional threats are concerned like cyber warfare, meddling with what we term as global commerce, those are areas which are receiving due attention. We are looking at what we can create in terms of organisation which can address them even better than what we are doing today. Where internal dissent and those issues are concerned which basically are socio-economic in nature or which are law and order where at times you get called in, we are also looking at that in conjunction with what we can do with other organs of the state which will help us in meeting these challenges.
Suffice to say that we are giving a thought to this entire range of threats and we are looking at upgrading our capability, looking at certain amount of restructuring that we need to do and how we will develop our human resource capital because that is the major thing. Wars are fought by human beings. Ultimately, it is a human being who is going to plant a flag and not a machine. So that capital has to be good. So how manpower is to be by recruited, trained, prepared, made technologically more aware and all that is part of this gamut.
The Air Force chief described the situation in the neighbourhood as volcanic. Do you agree?
I do not want to comment on what he said. What I look at it is that we have an unstable neighbour on our West (Pakistan). Unstable because of internal problems, unabated terrorism out there and unstable because it decided that it will aid some terrorists groups and support some terrorist groups for strategic aims because of political drift and the fissures that are coming up because of all these factors. And we also know that whenever situation become critical with this particular neighbour of ours it tends to direct attention of its people towards India. There is instability; there is a terrorist infrastructure which is in place. Till that time the threat to our country will remain because it looks at dismembering the country as a nation. We also have the so-called border problem because of what happened after 1948.
So far as China is concerned, yes, it is developing infrastructure, developing its military but at the same time the borders are comparatively peaceful. You have confidence-building measures in place and there is a fair amount of understanding in ensuring peace and tranquility. However, intentions in this case can change as the capabilities grow. We take note of both these developments and I think we are prepared to meet the type of threats that may erupt. I think all the three services are on the same grid so far as this issue is concerned.
There is also a nuclear dimension with Pakistan having acquired the capability as well?
We have been looking on this threat for quite sometime. It is not that suddenly it has come, we knew at the capabilities of our neighbourhood and what was happening over there and we have been talking about it, we have been training for it and we have been looking at our own concepts and doctrine etc so far as this particular issue is concerned. As an Army, we are prepared to fight dirty which means not dirty in the sense of street fighting, dirty in the sense of fighting through our area which has been contaminated by a nuclear strike. We are confident that we will get through in such contaminated areas and this is part of our training methodology, doctrine and our concept.
It is not that somebody is going to say I will drop a bomb and therefore you stop on your track. Sorry, it does not happen that way, it is not going to happen. We will take the war to its logical conclusion whether it is a nuclear strike or no nuclear strike. I am quite confident of our nuclear capability. We are clear that as a nation we will be able to withstand whatever comes our way and retaliate in adequate measure.
China is ramping up infrastructure along its side of the border with India and there has been talk of intrusions. Do you think India is doing enough to counter any threat the Chinese may pose?
I would answer the question in two parts. Firstly, yes, there is lot of infrastructural development in Tibet autonomous region and China has enhanced its capability in that region. But there is no enhancement of military force for which we should get worried. Yes, China is a country which is progressing very well economically and obviously when you are doing great amount of economic progress, certain benefits go in modernisation of the military like any other nation would do. Because we have a disputed border, there will always be a concern that intentions can change. And there is a second point. At the moment, the borders are peaceful. There are confidence-building measures in place. There is a system of holding border personnel meetings. There is a system of hot lines so that unnecessarily things do not go out of control. And they are functioning pretty well.
I think at times things get unnecessarily blown up. There are no intrusions. There are transgressions. Transgressions are in areas where a certain alignment is disputed between the two countries. You feel that the alignment should be at a particular place and you go up to that place. They feel that alignment should be at a particular place, so he comes up to that place. Therefore, for him you have transgressed and for you, he has transgressed. That is what all is happening. There is nothing very alarming about it. As a person who heads the Army, I find there is no problem on our borders. We are ensuring that whatever are our national interests, they are guarded properly. There is no alarm on this matter at all. And I think China also knows it. That is how confidence-building measures are coming into place.
For the Army, there has been a problem of acquisition of new armament or upgradation of existing equipment especially after the Bofors controversy with every government since then wary of taking decisions about defence purchases. Is the Army facing the same problem of obsolescence as the Air Force is?
This is a perception. Obsolete to what? There are certain things which probably have outlived their lifespan in terms of equipment that came or got inducted at a particular time. Such equipment is still worthwhile because of what you have in your neighbourhood. Yes, acquisitions suffered in the wake of Bofors thing that came up and everybody is too cautious for the simple reason that nobody wants to get into the vigilance net. The Defence procurement procedure policy that has been laid down now is quite good and it is getting updated as we keep having interactions with the industry and all other people who work in it. Two things have to be maintained in procurement — one is transparency and the second is to ensure that nobody can cast a doubt which usually happens when there is a large amount involved.
I feel that if we are convinced that a thing is needed, it is necessary or if there is an urgent requirement for it we should be able to remove the cobwebs that come in the way. I am confident that this will happen and I have seen it happening. We have a very supportive political leadership so far as this issue is concerned. I am looking at faster acquisitions. But let me also sound a word of caution. What you acquire from abroad and what can be made indigenously, we need to have a balance. You cannot be dependent on too much from outside because then you become a hostage in times of a need. So there is a great amount of effort that is being made to ensure that our own private sector comes up in this field. We would like our private sector to come up whether they make a joint venture with somebody outside or what they want to do is there problem. But at least there should be technology infusion by which they can match up to what we require and maybe we will see that over a period of time the type of vibrant industry that we have, that is our strength in the economic marvel that has happened, it should be able to take on lot of jobs.
What are the technologies or equipment the Army needs to acquire to face future challenges?
We are ready to face the challenges that may come up. There are certain focus areas that we have kept for ourselves. Like we are looking at the type of surveillance equipment that can come, we look at our capability to do 24x7 operations where night is not a problem. We are looking at improving our networks centricity. We are looking at high technology items in terms of computer controlled and command controlled systems which provide synergy to the entire process. Some of these are on way and some are these are being given a push. The other area that we are looking is our capability for bringing in precision targeting.
There has been demands to modify or amend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) especially in Kashmir. What are your views on it?
Kashmir is a complex problem. Like I have said, we had created a situation which should have been made use of. Somewhere, some problems have occurred and I will not go into why and how of it. I think you all are aware of what is happening out there. We as the Army, have done a tremendous job out there. Even in the period of crisis you have seen that the rural areas where the Army mainly is have remained quiet. They have not supported agitations and whatever goodwill that we have earned is reflected in the way people respond to us. I am sure this will be visible to everybody and they can find the windows which they can utilise for betterment of the situation. AFSPA is an enabling provision and Act passed by Parliament. It assists the armed forces in dealing with special situations. It does not give it unwieldy powers because when the Supreme Court reviewed it, it looked at it very critically and came to a decision that this is not an arbitrary act. It has got a meaning. It enables your forces to have a certain amount of legal cover. They also said that we should have certain guidelines which have been given to the Army. The Army by itself had already taken out certain commandments that the troops must follow as additional guidelines. Troops who operate in to such areas are actually not aware of AFSPA. They are operating under the guidelines given by the Army. And those guidelines are very explicit. They tell you what to do what not to do. And where aberration occur, we come down hard upon those people. So there is no misuse. I don't think there is a need to dilute the Act.
What about action against violators?
We have human rights organisations in our service. Each case is investigated. Let me tell you 96 per cent of the cases are found to be false and we go back to the National Human Rights Commission and tell them that's what it is. Where there is a violation we take very quick action and ensure that adequate punishment is given to these people. The Army does it in much faster time frame, even faster than a fast track court because we are concerned about our own image. We are not an occupation Army in anyway.
Do you see a role for the Indian Army in Afghanistan?
Afghanistan has been a country that India has been engaged with for a long time. Because of our age-old relationships, all our aid is developmental and humanitarian. We have looked at ensuring that there is development in Afghanistan and we have looked at progress in Afghanistan. But we have not looked at militarily involving ourselves in Afghanistan. And that stance continues. We do not look at the Army stepping in any way and we are not recommending it to do so. Our government has chalked out a policy on Afghanistan that is absolutely correct. It ensures that whatever interest we have is fulfilled.
What would be your focus during your tenure as chief?
We have embarked on a transformation process for our Army. Transformation is in terms of making the Army more agile, the Army more capable of transmitting its lethality and the Army in which there are no people who will be, in Army terms, left out of battle. Apart from that it is having a more responsive logistic system and ensuring that our Army headquarters are suitably structured so that they can contribute towards faster decision-making. This is what I think we should be able to achieve along with ensuring that whatever modernisation plans that we have they fructify to a large extent. I look at what we can do to increase our joint-manship network centricity so that we can operate in an environment where it should be possible for us to make use of all the acumen and skills that all the services we have.
