Pak’s N-threat exaggerated: Parthasarthy
RAHUL SINGH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2003 11:42:37 AM ]
CHANDIGARH: The Pakistani military establishment became a virtual punching bag for security experts on Sunday as they blasted the ‘rogue’ army for making militant Islam a vital instrument for foreign policy.
The experts, who were here for a conclave on Integrated Management of National Security held at Panjab University, said Pakistani military regimes were clear in their mind that the Indian threat had to be kept alive if they were to stay in power.
G Parthasarthy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, said after the 1971 war the Pakistani objective was not to take away Kashmir from India but to destroy its fibre of unity “as they viewed our existence as an ideological threat to theirs.”
Underlining that it was not possible to deal with Pakistan in a compartmentalised manner, he said, “The strategic challenge we face from Pakistan is that they want to weaken India. Pakistan is not the battle of Army alone but every Indian has a role to play.”
He said that Kargil was the product of Pakistani impression that Indians were tired after a decade of low-intensity conflict.
Parthasarthy further said that Pakistan would use nuclear weapons against India only as the last resort – either when the Pakistani army had collapsed or they had drained their resources.
He added that the nuclear threat from Pakistan was exaggerated and there was no harm in calling their bluff.
Although Parthasarthy said that India should attempt to isolate Pakistan at every international forum, he said people to people contact should be cultivated and channels of communication should not be closed.
Some experts, however, offered divergent views on the Pakistani role vis-à-vis national security and said more emphasis should be placed on “setting our own house in order.”
Lt Gen D B Shekatkar (retd), a security expert from Pune, said instead of blaming Pakistan for every ill afflicting the country, the need of the hour was to provide security to the common man and strengthen India at the grassroot level.
Delivering a talk on “Changing perspective of national security, challenges and responses,” Shekatkar said, “The country would be safe in real terms only when the common man feels secure. Nobody can dare to touch us if we are strong internally. The genesis of most of our problems lies in our internal differences.”
He added that the supreme tragedy of the country was that the common man’s faith had been eroded not only in the government setup but in every possible sense.
Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak (retd), additional director, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said India must evolve a vision document for national security on the lines of the US.
He said that this was crucial because conventional wars were passé and future conflicts would be limited in nature with limited objectives. Kak also called for greater interaction between the armed forces and the ministry of defence to evolve higher defence control organisations.
Gen V N Sharma, a former Army chief, underscored the need for better coordination between Army and intelligence agencies for optimum results in counter-insurgency operations.
In the concluding session, RSS national chief K S Sudershan said although the US had attempted to manipulate India into sending troops to Iraq, the government did the right thing by turning down the proposal.