NEW DELHI, Oct 29: The Indian Army’s three-pronged strategy for countering insurgency, especially in JK, figures prominently in the newly-unveiled Army doctrine, which portends the next war to be held in the backdrop of terrorism. "Terrorism was discussed at length in the conference and we have evolved a strategy to counter it...This is reflected in the doctrine," Army chief Gen N C Vij told newspersons after a session of the ongoing Army Commanders’ Conference. "The new doctrine based on the premise that any wars would be short and intense, and in all probability under the backdrop of terrorism, incorporates measures to tackle such a situation," he explained. "We have evolved a three-pronged strategy — the first step is curbing infiltration, the second is eliminating terrorist elements in the hinterland, and the third and the most important is winning the hearts and minds of the people," the Army chief said. "We have managed to cut down on infiltration attempts, have gone after the elements in the hinterland — we have managed to cull their number down to 2000 from 3500. We have achieved great success in the third objective but are striving to further improve it," he said. The Army chief said that in pursuit of the third objective, the forces have set-up more than 1000 mini-hydel projects to ensure electification of villages, have laid stress on woman empowerment and education and tried to improve the lives of the people. "There has been a marked improvement in the situation but more needed to be done," he said. "We have released the doctrine today. It is in two parts. The first, which will be circulated widely incorporates the changed operational scenario, the impact of terrorism, organisational and structural changes to meet the challenges of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and network-centric warfare and joint operations,"Gen Vij said. "The second part is classified," he added. Responding to a question on the doctrine dealing with nuclear warfare, the Army chief was cautious in his reply. "We do not think use of nuclear weapons desirable, as I am sure no sane man does. Our policy is well-stated and is non-ambiguous," he said, adding that they were aware of what is being said by others and were prepared to deal with it. On being asked how the organisational and structural changes mentioned in the new doctrine translated "on the ground," Gen Vij said that it was not possible for him to go into much detail. "It suffices to say that the measures in the doctrine have a direct implication on what we can do and changes have been effected accordingly," he said. However, stressing the impotance of network-centric warfare, he said a couple of changes had been made to incorporate it. "In the last conference, we had made one of the deputy chiefs responsible for information systems, changing his designation from DCOAS (training and co-ordination) to DCOAS (information system and training). Now, we have also decided to appoint an officer of the rank of Major General in the military operations directorate to take care of information warfare. Likewise, officers with similar responsibilities will be posted in the different commands," he said. Speaking about the concept of joint operations, the Army chief said it was a "known thing" and there was nothing new in it. "Joint operations assume importance in the sort of warfare we can expect to see. There are times when the Army and Navy have to work jointly and so on," he said, adding that the Indian defence forces have gone in joint operations whenever needed. The Army chief refuted claims that there had been a problem about which service was to head a particular joint operation. "We have an institutional method of evolving a command structure for this," he said. He said the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, which has been under consideration of the Government for the last four years, is "already on the way." "The structure for the post of CDs has been put in place and it is now for the Government to take a policy decision in this regard. When they will do it is up to the Government," he said. The CDs will be headquartered in Delhi and would help integrate three services of the armed forces. On the issue of new uniform being given to the personnel of the armed forces, Gen Vij said efforts were being made to ensure that quality uniform is supplied to the soldiers keeping in view the comfort level as also operational requirements. "Once these objectives are achieved, the new uniform would be introduced in the forces," he added. (AGENCIES) |
