The Chief of Defense, General Bipin Rawat, gave a virtual seminar organized by the National Defense College
New Delhi:
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) faces “unforeseen consequences” of its misadventure in eastern Ladakh due to the “firm and strong” responses from the Indian armed forces and the possibility of transgressions and clashes on the Royal Line of Control to spiral into a wider spiral A conflict cannot be ruled out, Defense Chief of Staff General Bipin Rawat said on Friday.
In a speech at a webinar, General Rawat said that the situation along the Royal Line of Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh remained tense and that India’s stance to deal with it has been “unequivocal” , and added that the country will not accept any changes to the LAC.
Speaking of the myriad external security challenges facing the nation, General Rawat also referred to the “increasing collusion” between Pakistan and China and said that it represents an “omnipresent danger” of regional strategic instability and threatens the territorial integrity of India. .
“The situation throughout LAC in eastern Ladakh remains tense. The PLA faces unforeseen consequences of its misfortune in Ladakh due to the firm and strong response of the Indian defense forces. Our position is unequivocal and we will not accept no change in LAC, “he added. he said
“In the general calculation of security, border clashes, transgressions and unprovoked tactical military actions that turn into a major conflict cannot therefore be ruled out,” said the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS ) at the seminar organized by the National Defense College.
“The constant friction with two of our nuclear-armed neighbors with whom India has fought wars, and the two increasingly collude, poses an ever-present danger of regional strategic instability with the potential for escalation, threatening our territorial integrity and strategic cohesion.”
The Chief of Defense Staff said that Pakistan’s “relentless proxy war” in Jammu and Kashmir accompanied by “vicious” anti-India rhetoric on social media and efforts to create social discord within India have led to Indo-Pak relations to a new level. .
“The surgical strikes following the Uri terrorist attack and the Balakot airstrikes have sent a strong message to Pakistan that it no longer enjoys the impunity of pushing terrorists through the Line of Control under the nuclear phantom,” he said. .
“The new Indian template has injected ambiguity and uncertainty into Pakistan, evident in their media reports, about the reaction of the Indian Armed Forces, if the Pakistani-sponsored terrorists cross the threshold of tolerance,” Gen Rawat added.
The Defense Chief said that despite domestic problems, failed economy, international isolation and flawed civil-military relations, Pakistan will continue to “profess” that Kashmir is its “unfinished agenda.”
“And his Army will continue to raise the specter of an existential threat from India to justify its disproportionately large force and the need for funds to maintain its war capabilities,” he said.
General Rawat said that Pakistan has remained the epicenter of armed insurgency and terrorism.
“For three decades, the Pakistani Army and the ISI, known as the ‘Deep State’, have been waging an indirect war in Jammu and Kashmir and now increasingly resort to non-kinetic means by launching vicious rhetoric against India in the social media and spreading false community narratives to create social discord within India, “he said.
Gen Rawat also listed several initiatives to reform India’s defense forces through a variety of measures, including ongoing work on establishing theater commands, reforming the procurement process to ensure optimal management of the allocated budget. , initiatives to ensure better cooperation between three forces in training. and logistics.
“We are moving towards a Peninsular / Maritime Theater Command, an Air Defense Theater Command, and three land-focused Integrated Theater Commandos for our northern and western borders. We are currently in advanced stages of reasserting the contours of the structures and transformation, “he said. said.
Referring to the evolving geopolitical situation, the Chief of Defense said that China, with its ambition to emerge as a global power, is already making inroads in South Asia, the Indian Ocean region (IOR) and especially East Africa. through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). ).
“Chinese aspirations are evident in the ever-expanding Chinese military maritime footprints in the Indo-Pacific, huge investments in the IOR littorals, and the establishment of strategic partnerships with various countries in the region such as South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan and the Association. of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), “he said.
General Rawat said that the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has made China repressive at home but aggressive abroad, as evidenced by its stance in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Straits. from Taiwan.
“For India, the challenges have been manifested with military outbreaks throughout LAC. In the coming years we are likely to witness an aggressive pursuit of hegemonic interests by China that manifests itself through the economic exploitation of nations. weaker “.
On domestic challenges, he said “left extremism” and growing “urban terrorism” have also contributed to vitiate India’s security environment. With warfare going from conventional to hybrid, he observed that the overall security dynamic is rife with strategic unpredictability.
This is further compounded by China’s phenomenal economic and military rise and Pakistan’s unique hybrid capabilities and the machinations of its Deep State. Equally important is the need to reflect the context in which all these activities take place, as it affects national interests, undermining our values and ethics, which we order ourselves to protect, “he said.
The Chief of Defense noted that the current environment and future trends indicate a number of challenges India must overcome “to compete, deter and, if necessary, fight and win the wars of tomorrow.”
In addition to conventional warfare, the challenges in the hybrid and sub-conventional domain are more immediate and of deep concern, demanding a comprehensive response for which the Armed Forces will need to be duly empowered through the absorption of technology duly merged with large organizations “, said.
General Rawat said that future civil-military integration will be the key to an “all nations” approach to national security. “Following the contracting of the defense budget allocation, we must consider the creation of dual-use infrastructure through civil-military merger.”
He said that the emergence of a hyper-connected and super-collaborative world that spawns innovation in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, robotics, drones, bioweapons, directed energy weapons, quantum computing, nanotechnology, and cyber capabilities will revolutionize warfare in the coming years.
“These disruptive technologies are having a fundamental impact on the way wars will be fought. China has focused on military transformation and force structuring combined with the development of disruptive technologies,” he said.
He said he has raised a ‘Strategic Support Force; that is acquiring capabilities in the domain of space, cyber and electronic warfare to carry out a “smart” form of warfare.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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