New Delhi: Indian Army Chief, Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane on Friday sent a strong warning to Pakistan, saying nuclear weapons are only good for deterrence and that the airstrike at Balakot terrorist camps by Air Force in February last year showed that terrorists cannot operate with impunity.
“Historically, nuclear weapons have been good deterrence and that is where their role ends,” Gen Naravane said, during a select media interaction.
He pointed out that recently India has been able to carry out two to three operations against Pakistan, without nuclear option coming into play.
Gen Naravane was responding to a question on how India can strike against terrorists across the Line of Control, without breaching the nuclear threshold.
Gen Naravane said that around 200-250 terrorists are waiting at different launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir. He said that daily infiltration attempts are being made.
He said the Balakot airstrike has shown that terrorist camps, their infrastructure and launch pads can be taken down.
Gen Naravane said that as a result of Balakot, there will be restrain by Pakistan and a note of caution before taking any escalatory action in the future.
Gen Naravane said that armed forces are preparing their modernisation ,not looking at the last war, but the “next war”.
He said that in future wars will involve use of more technology, robotics, cyber space and artificial intelligence.
He said that the proposal of the new Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Bipin Rawat to create a common Air Defence Command, to secure the country from aerial attacks is a good idea as this will allow the Army, Air Force and Navy to pool their resources and take a holistic view of the Air Defence.
Gen Naravane said the he disagrees with the allegations of politicisation of the armed forces.
“The armed forces have been apolitical right since independence,” he said.
Gen Naravane said that he agreed that infructuous ceremonial activities should be cut out. “All the three services — Army, Navy and the Air Force — are on the same line on this,” he said.
