HYDERABAD, Feb 21:
Strategic affairs expert Brigadier (Retd) AG Krishnaiah called for evolving a strategic culture and a formidable security policy for India.
Addressing a seminar on India’s Security imparatives and Siachen organized under the aegis of awareness in action at Osmania University here today, Mr Krishnaiah said India must be prepared to foil attack from both the eastern as well as western flanks. He said India was currently facing a two-and-a-half front war, which involved challeges from both Pakistan and China as also internal battles involving low intensity warfare and Left terrorism.
He said holding Siachen was strategically and tactically very important. He said the soldiers were braving both bullets as well as weather vagaries to hold on the glacial battle field, which, he said, has offered India a strategic depth.
“Siachen is offering India a rare tactical advantage at a time when China is expanding its footprint in Pak occupied Gilgit Baltistan and the China-Pak linkages through Karakorum heights,” he said and added that Pakistan-China linkup through Siachen would expose India’s defences in Ladakh.
He said it was important to hold Siachen despite the super high altitude and treacherous climatic conditions. He complemented Narendra Modi Government for its strategic vision and bold decisions. Strategic affairs expert Mayank Singh said the forbidding glacial heights, which is also the highest, coldest and the costliest battlefield in the world, has great geo-strategic advantage for India and said India should not withdraw from Siachen.
He called for developing a strategic culture in the civil society and called for greater civilian engagement in matters of defence and strategy.
Nehru Yuvak Kendra vice president Perala Sekhar Rao lambasted Rahul Gandhi for his short-sighted approach on security and said while his grand mother Indira Gandhi had ordered Operation Meghdoot to occupy Siachen heights, Rahul Gandhi was backing those who support terrorists like Afzal Guru. Col (retd) Mohan Kumar, senior journalist Raka Sudhakar Rao, Anti-Terrorism Forum founder Ravinuthala Sasidhar also spoke.
Earlier, the meeting paid rich tributes to the Siachen martyrs. (UNI)
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