War not a Bollywood movie but a serious and expensive last resort: Former army chief MM Naravane

Time of India

12-05-2025

Pune: Former army chief General MM
Naravane
has said that a war is not a "romantic" or "Bollywood" movie but a very serious and expensive last resort. "War or violence should be the last thing that we resort to. And that is why our Prime Minister said that this is not an era of war," he said.Naravane was addressing a diamond jubilee function of the
Institute
of
Cost Accountants
of India (Pune Chapter) on Sunday.
"Unwise people will force us into wars, but it should not be what you cheer for, and again, people are asking why we did not go for all-out war. As a military man, if ordered, I will go to war, but that will not be my first choice. My first choice will always be diplomacy, how to settle differences through dialogue, and not let it reach the stage of armed conflict. We should try to resolve all our differences through dialogue, not only between countries but even amongst ourselves," he said.When a war breaks out, there is death and destruction, Naravane said.
"It has its own costs, the cost of rebuilding, but also the cost of the military equipment that is lost." He further said war and warfare are an expensive business. "If we have long, drawn-out conflict stretching into weeks and months, then imagine what each loss would mean in the immediate terms. And what each of these losses cumulatively added up to would mean when you have to recoup that at the end of the war." Naravane said when the Kargil conflict occurred, the total cost was close to Rs1,500 crore out of which Rs800 crore was of the Indian Air Force. "The reconstruction cost in the bunkers in the border regions and remaking of roads was hundreds of crores of rupees." On the social aspects, Naravane said the scars of the war remain in the minds of families for generations. "The lives that are lost. The children who lose their parents. Children who themselves are killed in indiscriminate shelling in the border areas. Nobody takes that into account. The displacement of the population that is happening. It leads to trauma among adults and children. There is trauma among the children in the border areas, who have seen the shelling, who have run for shelter every night, and those who have lost their loved ones. That trauma carries on for generations. There is post-traumatic stress disorder. People subjected to intense combat and combat conditions, witnessed gruesome acts, wake even 20 years later, bathed in sweat and need psychiatric care," he said.Earlier, he said the Indian armed forces, by carrying out strikes deep within Pakistan, have proved that Pakistan would have to bear a very "heavy cost" if they wish to continue on their "foolish path". "Our forces not only targeted Pakistani terrorists' camps but also damaged their airfields deep down. If they continued their foolish path, it would cost them too much. This forced their hands to call for cessation, and that is why their Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called our DGMO to discuss cessation," the former army chief said.Responding to questions from members in the audience, Naravane said, "Nuclear weapons have always been a cause for concern but we have a nuclear doctrine of no first use, especially against non-nuclear nations and history has shown that nuclear weapons work very well as a deterrent but have never been used actually except for the first two times against Japan at the closing stages of World War II.""Even now, if you see the conflict in Ukraine, it is actually between nuclear powers — Russia on one side and the whole of NATO on the other side, which has two, three of the major nuclear powers of the world, but nobody talks about nuclear weapons. They are used for posturing; whenever some reverses are there, you dangle that nuclear card, but everybody knows in their hearts of hearts, it is only a threat," he added. Pune: Former army chief General MM Naravane has said that a war is not a "romantic" or "Bollywood" movie but a very serious and expensive last resort. "War or violence should be the last thing that we resort to. And that is why our Prime Minister said that this is not an era of war," he said.Naravane was addressing a diamond jubilee function of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (Pune Chapter) on Sunday. "Unwise people will force us into wars, but it should not be what you cheer for, and again, people are asking why we did not go for all-out war. As a military man, if ordered, I will go to war, but that will not be my first choice. My first choice will always be diplomacy, how to settle differences through dialogue, and not let it reach the stage of armed conflict. We should try to resolve all our differences through dialogue, not only between countries but even amongst ourselves," he said.When a war breaks out, there is death and destruction, Naravane said. "It has its own costs, the cost of rebuilding, but also the cost of the military equipment that is lost." He further said war and warfare are an expensive business. "If we have long, drawn-out conflict stretching into weeks and months, then imagine what each loss would mean in the immediate terms. And what each of these losses cumulatively added up to would mean when you have to recoup that at the end of the war." Naravane said when the Kargil conflict occurred, the total cost was close to Rs1,500 crore out of which Rs800 crore was of the Indian Air Force. "The reconstruction cost in the bunkers in the border regions and remaking of roads was hundreds of crores of rupees." On the social aspects, Naravane said the scars of the war remain in the minds of families for generations. "The lives that are lost. The children who lose their parents. Children who themselves are killed in indiscriminate shelling in the border areas. Nobody takes that into account. The displacement of the population that is happening. It leads to trauma among adults and children. There is trauma among the children in the border areas, who have seen the shelling, who have run for shelter every night, and those who have lost their loved ones. That trauma carries on for generations. There is post-traumatic stress disorder. People subjected to intense combat and combat conditions, witnessed gruesome acts, wake even 20 years later, bathed in sweat and need psychiatric care," he said.Earlier, he said the Indian armed forces, by carrying out strikes deep within Pakistan, have proved that Pakistan would have to bear a very "heavy cost" if they wish to continue on their "foolish path". "Our forces not only targeted Pakistani terrorists' camps but also damaged their airfields deep down. If they continued their foolish path, it would cost them too much. This forced their hands to call for cessation, and that is why their Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called our DGMO to discuss cessation," the former army chief said.Responding to questions from members in the audience, Naravane said, "Nuclear weapons have always been a cause for concern but we have a nuclear doctrine of no first use, especially against non-nuclear nations and history has shown that nuclear weapons work very well as a deterrent but have never been used actually except for the first two times against Japan at the closing stages of World War II.""Even now, if you see the conflict in Ukraine, it is actually between nuclear powers — Russia on one side and the whole of NATO on the other side, which has two, three of the major nuclear powers of the world, but nobody talks about nuclear weapons. They are used for posturing; whenever some reverses are there, you dangle that nuclear card, but everybody knows in their hearts of hearts, it is only a threat," he added.