Northern Command with headquarters at Udhampur is in fact the most crucial command of the Indian Army. This command is responsible for the security of the entire border with Pakistan to the west and north- west, and north-east with China. Unfortunately, both of the two neighbours are inimical to us and they have formed unholy alliance under the formula of Mao-tse-Tung of China that enemy’s enemy is a friend. We understand that the Defence Ministry is going to make four-fold increase in the allocation of arms and other equipment of the Northern Command. The expansion is in various directions including road and rail connectivity. Northern Command will be going in for sophisticated weaponry to increase defence capabilities of the command which has three Corps under its control at Leh, Srinagar and Udhampur. This is a major decision on the part of the Defence Ministry. It shows there is much realization at the Defence headquarter that the army units of Northern Command have to fight external aggression as well as internal subversion. Pakistan wants to pin down Indian army over a long stretch of LoC and IB, and similarly, China wants to pin down our army to the Indo-Chinese border in Ladakh. We welcome this realization at the highest echelons of Indian defence planning. Ever since Pakistan army has raised what it calls the first frontline of Pakistan defence in the shape of jihadis or what we wrongly call “non-state actors”, it has become unavoidable for the Government of India to respond to this threat forcefully and even belligerently. Northern Command should have, at any cost, the best weaponry as well as logistically very favourable environs to take on the enemy if and when it casts covetous looks at our borders. The residents of the borders have to be taken on board because their support and service are of prime importance in meeting the challenge of terrorism.
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