Q. With Pakistan on one side and China on the other, how do you see the Border Security situation along LOC & LAC, in addition to Taliban, which came up as a new threat?
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Replied by Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee, Editor, VIF

Geography, vitiated by two powerful – one dictatorially autocratic and the other dictated by religious fanaticism – and instinctively expansionist neighbours, both with propensity to seek their goals through military power, places India under a state of perpetual threat. That the two are close collaborators and are more or less in league with the Taliban ideology make the matter worse. LoC and LAC are but manifestations of that burden.

Independent India on the other hand, is focused on socio-economic uplift of the poverty ridden masses, as it should be. However, the Indian state has been distracted by banal notions to link that goal with compromises with defence preparedness - as if these two predators would accommodate, rather than exploit, its peaceful ideals!

Presently, the LoC and the LAC stand reasonably well defended against limited aggression. However, no territorial defence can be organised adequately unless the military is prepared, by the state, to take to pre-emptive and retaliatory offensive actions. It is only recently that this truth has been appreciated by the Indian leadership. Though the process has presently been set in motion, India’s defence preparedness will take many more years of sustained efforts to come of age.

Till then we have to keep trying to keep the aggressors away, as much as we can, by astute diplomacy, dated weaponry and other hardware of war, limited logistics and lot of blood and guts.

Date : 17/08/2021
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