FURORE ON THE ARMY DOCTRINAL DEBATE

From: Gagandeep Bakhshi [mailto:gagandeep.bakshi@yahoo.com]
Sent: 26 January 2010 13:39
To: Kamboj Chander
Subject: Fw: Fwd of article

My Dear kamboj
Some days back there was an uproar over the issue of the Indian Army revising its doctrine.Very uncharitable comments were made in the media, including some upbraiding the Chief for speaking on this subject.To serve their purpose Military doctrines must be declaratory and well articulated in the open domain. Only then can these serve to deter! Enclosed is a copy of my article on this subject which is being published in the magazine"Purple Beret". I would be grateful if you could circulate it on your site.
Regards,
Maj Gen G D Bakshi
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FURORE ON THE ARMY DOCTRINAL DEBATE
By
Maj Gen G D Bakshi SM, VSM (retd)

Armed forces the world over routinely update their doctrines to keep pace with the accelerating pace of change in the global scenario and the even faster rate of change in military technology. A failure to do so would be dangerous and irresponsible. Doctrines are therefore usually revised every four to five years. That is precisely the exercise that the Indian Army is engaged in today. The current version of the Army Doctrine was released on 22Oct2004 and is therefore over five years old. The time is right for a wide ranging review of this doctrine.


It was therefore quite amazing to see the unseemly furore that this very routine exercise generated in Pakistan. It was even more surprising to hear the very defensive reactions in our media to the Pakistani uproar. One highly respected civilian analyst chided the Army Chief to keep his views on doctrine personal! The levels of irrationality in the rapidly failing state of Pakistan are increasingly becoming a cause for concern. Despite the fact that it has just been rescued from massive economic collapse and faces systemic failure, it behaves like a self- anointed Islamic Caliphate and a self confessed superpower. It treats Afghanistan as its exclusive sphere of influence ( a virtual colony). It demands that India not be permitted even to provide economic aid to the long suffering people of Afghanistan nor have any diplomatic representation or consular access in that country. It now demands that the Indian Army can not be permitted to carry out a routine update of its own doctrine for fear of annoying the Caliphs in Pakistan. The even more surprising aspect however is that some well meaning civilian analysts and votaries of peace at any cost have joined the Pakistani chorus to chide the Indian Army and pillory its Chief for trying to update their doctrine. As per them,the Indian Army cannot talk publicly of its doctrine. This just highlights the abysmal levels of ignorance about matters military in this country. Military Doctrines are almost always supposed to be declaratory doctrines. They are required to be publicly articulated so that they send an appropriate message to likely adversaries to deter them from adventurist actions. India has been confronted with a painful doctrinal dilemma. How should we respond to Pakistan’s sub conventional assault, first in J&K and now in all the major cities across the nation? How do we deal with what Chris Gagne calls the Stability-Instability Paradox, wherein stability at the nuclear level has bred high levels of instability at the sub conventional level? Mumbai was the proverbial last straw. Is the Indian population doomed to suffer at the hands of crazed Jihadis forever? For over thirty years India has surrendered the strategic and tactical initiative to Pakistan, and has fought a purely reactive and defensive war on its own soil. Will this continue forever because South Asia has gone nuclear? Or is there space for a Limited Conventional War below the Spectral ends of Nuclear War and Sub conventional Assaults?


Limited War The New Indian Doctrine must provide answers to these key issues. It must define the kind of war the Indian army must equip and train to fight. In essence the Army Doctrine must answer the seminal questions about the viability and form of Limited Conventional War against a Nuclear Backdrop. The Chinese Doctrine for Limited (or Local) Wars envisages very high levels of the use of military force. It places the onus of going nuclear squarely on the adversary. Can India paint itself into an impotent corner because of Pakistan’s overhyped nuclear threat (which is not credible except in a national emergency where Pakistan’s very survival is at stake). Even US Defense Secretary Robert Gates recognised candidly that India had exercised amazing level of restraint after Mumbai. He conceded that India cannot be expected to do the same, if there is another Mumbai-like mayhem.


Insurgency in the Heartland All of India’s insurgencies/terrorist movements were in Rimland/Border provinces so far (North East, Punjab, J&K). The new form of tribal insurgency has now broken out in the heartland – in Central and Peninsular India in the form of Left Wing Extremism (LWE). Jihadi Terror is now striking major cities deep in the interiors. The Army does not wish to be drawn far away from the borders it is tasked to defend. What if these Low Intensity Conflicts escalate? Can the Army stay out forever? The Rashtriya Rifles – the Internal Security Component of the Army will have to be involved. There are major shifts in Doctrine which will have to be discussed and debated. Only then can a viable doctrine be defined. Doctrines (for the less informed civilian friends) are not secret documents. They are declaratory documents designed to deter. For that they have to be communicated and the strength of resolve to carry them out, clearly articulated. India will have to field dominant war fighting capabilities in South Asia if it wishes to be left in peace by erratic neighbours that are developing delusions of grandeur even as they slip into collapse mode.
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