A war with Pakistan is not a solution, but will only add to India’s economic woes, said defence experts and analysts at the Joint Amphibious Warfare seminar in Pune on Monday.
However, they stressed on surgical strikes and a co-operative model of regional security to eliminate terrorists from Pakistan.
“We should initiate an international database of all shipping firms, develop a joint patrolling strategy for the region and consider an Asian Maritime Force to face emerging common threats,” said Brigadier (Retd) Gurmeet Kanwal, director, Centre For Land Warfare Studies.
Rear Admiral (Retd) Raja Menon said for a country like India whose prime minister has predicted a 7 per cent growth rate even when global crisis had crippled many states, “the option of war would be more painful than the loss of 177 people to terror attack”.
“It was a similar scenario when Pakistan dragged us into war in 1971. And that is the scenario which we can be dragged into now,” added Menon.
“I would have recommended carefully targeted surgical strikes,” said Brigadier (Retd) Kanwal.
{{/usCountry}}“I would have recommended carefully targeted surgical strikes,” said Brigadier (Retd) Kanwal.
{{/usCountry}}“The US has already made its presence evident in the Indian Ocean. China has been building road networks through the Karakoram Range… We have to decide how we are going to take decisions with these nations,” said Menon.
Kanwal said India should re-start its covert operation capability in the Research Analysis Wing that was dismantled in 1997.