Indian Army's two-front doctrine betrays hostile intent: Pak

[Bhushan]

Indian Army's two-front doctrine betrays hostile intent: Pak

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said that Indian Army's new military doctrine including scenarios such as a two-front simultaneous war with both China and Pakistan "betrays a hostile intent" and a "jingoistic mindset".

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement that the Indian Army's new military doctrine "betray a hostile intent as well as a hegemonic and jingoistic mindset which is quite out of step with the realities of our time".

Pakistan is prepared to defend itself in the face of all contingencies, Basit said. "No one should ever underestimate our capability and determination to foil any nefarious designs against the security of Pakistan," he said.

Indian Army officials have said that the doctrine, which is reviewed every five years at the Army's Shimla-based Training Command, will now include scenarios such as a two- front simultaneous war with both China and Pakistan.

Basit called on the world community to take "due notice of such statements".

He added: "Pakistan remains mindful of the threats posed to its security as well as the importance of promoting peace in South Asia."

The spokesman also told a weekly news briefing at the Foreign Office that Pakistan's desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness.

 

[Bhushan]

Army reworks war doctrine for Pakistan, China

NEW DELHI: The Army is now revising its five-year-old doctrine to effectively meet the challenges of a possible `two-front war' with China and Pakistan, deal with asymmetric and fourth-generation warfare, enhance strategic reach and joint operations with IAF and Navy.

Work on the new war doctrine -- to reflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges -- is already underway under the aegis of Shimla-based Army Training Command, headed by Lt-General A S Lamba, said sources.

It comes in the backdrop of the 1.13-million strong Army having practised -- through several wargames over the last five years -- its `pro-active' war strategy to mobilise fast and strike hard to pulverise the enemy.

This `cold start strategy', under a NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang, emerged from the `harsh lessons' learnt during Operation Parakram, where it took Army's strike formations almost a month to mobilise at the `border launch pads' after the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.

This gave ample opportunity to Pakistan to shore up its defences as well as adequate time to the international community, primarily the US, to intervene. The lack of clear directives from the then NDA government only made matters worse.

"A major leap in our approach to conduct of operations (since then) has been the successful firming-up of the cold start strategy (to be able to go to war promptly)," said Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, at a closed-door seminar on Tuesday.

The plan now is to launch self-contained and highly-mobile `battle groups', with Russian-origin T-90S tanks and upgraded T-72 M1 tanks at their core, adequately backed by air cover and artillery fire assaults, for rapid thrusts into enemy territory within 96 hours.

Gen Kapoor identified five thrust areas that will drive the new doctrine. One, even as the armed forces prepare for their primary task of conventional wars, they must also factor in the eventuality of `a two-front war' breaking out.

In tune with this, after acquiring a greater offensive punch along the entire western front with Pakistan by the creation of a new South-Western Army Command in 2005, India is now taking steps -- albeit belatedly -- to strategically counter the stark military asymmetry with China in the eastern sector. There is now "a proportionate focus towards the western and north-eastern fronts", said Gen Kapoor.

Two, the Army needs to `optimise' its capability to effectively counter `both military and non-military facets' of asymmetric and sub-conventional threats like WMD terrorism, cyber warfare, electronic warfare and information warfare.

Three, the armed forces have to substantially enhance their strategic reach and out-of-area capabilities to protect India's geo-political interests stretching from Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait.

"This would enable us to protect our island territories; as also give assistance to the littoral states in the Indian Ocean Region," said Gen Kapoor.

Four, interdependence and operational synergy among Army, Navy and IAF must become the essence of strategic planning and execution in future wars. "For this, joint operations, strategic and space-based capability, ballistic missile defence and amphibious, air-borne and air-land operations must be addressed comprehensively," he said.

And five, India must strive to achieve a technological edge over its adversaries. "Harnessing and exploitation of technology also includes integration of network centricity, decision-support systems, information warfare and electronic warfare into our operational plans," he added.

Apart from analysing the evolving military strategy and doctrines of China and Pakistan, the Army is also studying the lessons learnt from the US-launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and their relevance to India.

 

[hillman32]

What are the state of Indian preparation on third front ? I mean on eastern border with BD !!!!!

 

[New Shivaji]

Indian Army's two-front doctrine betrays hostile intent: Pak


Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement that the Indian Army's new military doctrine "betray a hostile intent as well as a hegemonic and jingoistic mindset which is quite out of step with the realities of our time".

.

Has Abdul Basit lost his mind or What , Armys doctrine is defensive in nature - about how to fight on 2 frontiers when attacked by China and Pakistan simutaneoulsy. Its not about launching a fight on two frontiers

 

[FireFighter]

Has Abdul Basit lost his mind or What , Armys doctrine is defensive in nature - about how to fight on 2 frontiers when attacked by China and Pakistan simutaneoulsy. Its not about launching a fight on two frontiers

One has to analyze the intent behind preparing for a possible "defensive" war scenario with two neighbours at the same time, the thought is just mind boggling. Why would any country do a so called ''defensive" war preparation against two rivals? It just shows an ill intent or plans towards neighbours and you can't see it.

India has always been two faced when it comes to foreign policies towards her neighbours and Abdul Basit puts it very bluntly.


The only people who lost their mind is the Indian janta such as yourself who can't even handle anyone exposing and criticizing foreign policies from another point of view. I guess the mad junta is still asleep n thinks to the tunes of Bollywood when it comes to foreign affairs.

 

[Hulk]

Very sorry to know the FM spokesperson is finding it hard to understand that its army's job to prepare of any possibility of war in future. It is also not understandable that he cannot figure out the difference between preparing to attack and preparing to defend if attacked. I guess no one declares in advance if the intention is to attack. I can understand forum members not understanding it, but FM spokesperson should understand.

 

[gpit]

Only have one thing to say: the bellicose posture by Indian warlords does India no good, only harm.

 

[indiansoldier1999]

Has Abdul Basit lost his mind or What , Armys doctrine is defensive in nature - about how to fight on 2 frontiers when attacked by China and Pakistan simutaneoulsy. Its not about launching a fight on two frontiers

Abdul Basit may not be entirely wrong !!

1. India has what China ( Southern Tibet or Arunachal) and Pakistan (Kashmir) want.

2. India may not start the war (at least that's what people are fed with) but insiders know the secrets of 1962, 1971 wars.

a. but having said that, India may not start a war with out a reason for sure.

eg 1962 (Pressure tactics by PLA communist regime provoked Nehru to respond with out thinking much)

eg 1971 (India was waging a proxy war, way before PAF first dropped bombs on Indian air fields)

3. In an event of full blown war 5 yrs down the line, if there is enough reason, India would follow "Defensive offence" to cripple whatever is bothering it

eg Suppose China tries to be smart by blocking Brahmaputra river flowing in to Assam and Bangladesh, India would try to diplomatically solve the problem, then it would go to UN but if nothing works India may respond with a conventional Agni III ballistic missile and destroy the dam. (Lack of water is a serious issue)

eg India may block the flow of rivers to Pakistan from Jammu and Kashmir by building dams with out violating Indus water treaty agreement (Pakistan is more worried about rivers flowing from Jammu and Kashmir than majority muslim population). If diplomacy fails then there could be a confrontation.

India's new military doctrine would take all possible scenarios into consideration. It is not always about defense !!

 

[arya-hind]

hi

our Pakistani brother want war more then any thing because it solve there any problem but guys come down no war is going to happen

India and china are two growing power what will Pakistan do ??

and very thanks for china aggression because of your ours speed of modernization is increased