This year’s address of the Prime Minister to the joint annual conference of commanders of three services is markedly different from what the commanders were accustomed to be told on such an occasion. PM’s vision of country’s security and defence preparedness stems from the ground situation obtaining at present. This conference has taken place in the background of two important developments. One is the intensifying of firing and shelling by Pakistani Rangers on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir plus the international border. Pakistan’s firing was not only intense but it targeted the civilian population, their homes and their farms forcing thousands of them to migrate to safer places. The question is that any Government is duty bound to safeguard the lives and property of its citizens whether living in safe zones or close on the border. A sovereign State has to maintain the security of its people wherever they are and dislocating the border people is not a solution. The present Government has responded to this situation as it should be and the defence forces deserve appreciation for adequate response to the firing and shelling. The second issue that has been upper most in the mind of the Prime Minister is the services rendered by our Army and air force in rescuing thousands of people stranded in Kashmir floods. It has been a tremendous operation and our defence forces have given ample proof of their ability and preparedness in meeting any challenge of nature.
For nearly two decades and half, we have been fighting a proxy war and insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and in some parts of Eastern States besides the Naxalites. We are aware that our adversaries are active in disturbing peace and normalcy in the country. They are not happy with our democracy and development through democratic arrangement. That is why they want to destabilize both, our democracy and our development. But the enemy is not in open and is not fighting in open field. This is the new tactics of modern warfare. Cutting at the roots of economy is the new trend that enemies of our country would try. Therefore we have to formulae our response in the same vein. This is the crux of Prime Minister’s address to the commanders. If India goes digital, armed forces, too, have to go digital. This means that any warfare has to be a highly advanced technological warfare which will not last a long time and will be decisive. The Prime Minister has discounted any possibility of a large scale war in near future because those who are interested in war and destruction have shifted to technological, economic and the like areas to destabilize us. It is, therefore, essential that we undertake fast improvement in defence production in public as well as private sector. India has to take important steps of improving and upgrading the production of defence equipment and not depend on foreign countries. A huge chunk of our national budget is needed to be spent on procurement of defence equipment. The Prime Minister rightly thinks of shifting to indigenous production and therefore great emphasis on research and development area.
We have to devise a long range security policy in our country keeping in mind that two of our neighbours, Pakistan and China, both are nuclear country and have created nexus against us. Pakistan has no qualms of conscience in ceding large territories to China in the name of development but actually to encircle India and reduce our defence concentration. This puts great burden on our defence organization and resources. No doubt India is a peaceful country and has always contributed to world peace but we cannot remain content with mere rhetoric when our neighbours have vicious designs against us.
The Prime Minister is seized of the interests of armed forces personnel. He will be meeting with the three chiefs at least once a month so update his perception of security matters. This would surely help in coordinating plans and programmes of the defence organization in a creative manner. The Prime Minister has made categorical statement on the issue of one rank one pension, a matter that has been hanging fire for a long time. We are hopeful that he will come to some final decision on the issue. The most important part of his statement was that he promised to make available resources for modernizing and upgrading fighting capabilities of our defence organization. India has to have a strong defence establishment that ensures safety of her long border in the Indian Ocean and over the Himalayan ranges from east to west.
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