‘If you want peace…’: CDS Anil Chauhan's strong 'war' message, says ‘Operation Sindoor still on’

At the 'Ran Samvad' conclave, CDS General Anil Chauhan said India values peace but cannot be pacifist. He also discussed Operation Sindoor.

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday made it clear that India stands for peace but cautioned against mistaking that for pacifism, saying “peace without power is utopian.”

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan. (@HQ_IDS_India/X)

Addressing the two-day ‘Ran Samvad’ conclave at the Army War College in Mhow, General Anil Chauhan, in a veiled warning to Pakistan, said the Operation Sindoor, India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, “is still on”.

“India has always stood on the side of peace. We are a peace-loving nation, but don't get mistaken, we cannot be pacifists. I think peace without power is utopian. I like to state a Latin quote which translates, 'if you want peace, prepare for war',” he said at the conclave.

Referring to India’s recent military operations, General Chauhan said, “Operation Sindoor was a modern conflict from which we learned a number of lessons, and most of them are under implementation, some have been implemented. The operation is still on. We are not here to discuss Operation Sindoor. We are here to discuss something beyond Operation Sindoor.”

Four trends shaping future wars

The CDS highlighted four major trends he believes will define future conflicts.

“I hope this particular seminar, apart from technology, will also focus upon what kind of wars will happen in the future, the background for this,” he said.

“In my view, there are four essential trends that I foresee. First, there is an increased propensity amongst nations and governments to use force, and this is happening because political objectives today can be achieved by short-duration conflicts.

“The second trend which I see is a lack of distinction between war and peace, this particular era, which we knew in the past of declared wars, I think that's all over. Contemporary warfare today is a kind of continuum of five C's – competition, crisis, confrontation, conflict and combat, between wars," General Chauhan said.

“The third important thing is importance of people. In the past wars, because of territory and ideology, people and soldiers were sacrificed. The fourth important trend I think we can debate is the matrices of victory and how we perceive victory. In the past, matrices of victory were probably defined by losses inflicted in terms of men and equipment. In 1971, we had 95,000 Pakistanis captured. But in today's warfare, probably the new matrices of warfare or victory are the speed and tempo of operations, effects of long-range precision strikes,” he added.

Call for a stronger, self-reliant India

General Chauhan stressed the need for India to align its defence preparedness with its vision of becoming a developed nation.

“As a Viksit Bharat, we also need to be 'Shashastra', 'Suraksit' and 'Aatmanirbhar'. Not only in technology, but also in ideas and in practice. Hence, there is a need to increase awareness on all fragments of our society on doctrinal and conceptual aspects, that's the academic pursuits of how war is fought and practical and actual war fighting techniques and tactics,” he said.

On Monday, General Chauhan said India's response to future security challenges must be unified, swift and decisive in view of technological advancement and rapidly changing nature of war-fighting across land, sea and air.

The top military officer underlined the need for greater synergy among the three services as part of preparations to enhance India's military might.

"At a time when the character of conflict is evolving rapidly across land, sea, air, cyber and space, our response must be unified, swift and decisive," he said.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)