New Delhi: IAF chief Marshal Arup Raha on Thursday indicated that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would have been India’s had the country gone for a military solution rather than taking the “moral high ground”.
Mr Raha also rued that air power had not been fully utilised till the 1971 Indo-Pak war. In unusually candid remarks, the Air Force chief termed PoK as a “thorn in our flesh” and said India did not follow a “pragmatic approach” to security needs.
He said India’s security environment is vitiated and aerospace power, as part of the military power, would be requi-red to deter a conflict in the region and also ensure peace and tranquillity. “Our foreign policy was enshrined in the UN charter, charter of the NAM as well as the Panchseel doctrine. We have been governed by high ideals and did not follow a very pragmatic approach, to my mind, to security needs. To that extent, we did ignore the role of the military power to maintain conducive environment,” Mr Raha said at an aerospace seminar here.
Wanted a peaceful solution: Air Chief
He said India as a country was “reluctant” to use military power, especially air power, in deterring adversaries, in deterring a conflict and when involved in conflict the country has been drawn into several times in the past. He said when hordes of raiders attacked Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, it was the transport planes of the IAF which helped Indian soldiers and equipment to reach the battleground. “And when a military solution was in sight, taking moral high ground, I think we went to UN for a peaceful solution to this problem. The problem still continues. PoK remains a thorn in our flesh today,” he said.
