If we get hostility in return...: Chief of Defence Staff spells out Pak strategy

India Today

a day ago

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan underscored that India's current policy against Pakistan was of strategic disengagement as New Delhi received nothing but hostility from Islamabad despite diplomatic outreach.Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defence and security summit, General Chauhan said that despite Pakistan being ahead of India in many metrics after Independence, India was now ahead on all fronts - from the economy to human development.advertisement"On the India-Pakistan relationship, we are not operating without a strategy. When we gained independence, Pakistan was ahead of us on every metric: social, economic, GDP per capita. Today, India is ahead on all fronts: economic performance, human development, and social harmony, despite our greater diversity," General Chauhan said.
He underlined that India had reached out to Pakistan several times, like in 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited then-premier Nawaz Sharif to his oath ceremony after the BJP's win in the Lok Sabha polls.The next year, PM Modi made a surprise stop in Lahore to meet Sharif and wish him on his birthday."Diplomatically, we have reached out like in 2014 when the PM invited Nawaz Sharif. But it takes two hands to clap. If all we get in return is hostility, then disengagement may itself be a sound strategy for now," he said.ON OPERATION SINDOOR AND AKASH SYSTEMadvertisementSpeaking on Operation Sindoor, the Chief of Defence Staff pointed out how indigenous platforms like the Akash missile system were used effectively to neutralise attacks from Pakistan.In the same breath, he highlighted that integrated radars, built into a cohesive network across India, proved to be crucial."We have not only used indigenous platforms like the Akash missile system effectively, but we have also built our own networking infrastructure for air defence without relying on foreign vendors. We have integrated radars from multiple sources into a cohesive network across India and that was crucial," General Chauhan said.The Akash missile system was pivotal in thwarting Pakistan's sustained drone and missile attacks during Operation Sindoor, India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack, earlier this month. In retaliation, Indian forces targeted 11 key Pakistani military sites, including the Nur Khan air base, which is just 10 km from the Army headquarters.Must Watch