Lt Gen Deependra Singh Hooda
India has conveyed a very strong message to Pakistan. The fact that the government has used air power, which is generally considered an escalatory step, to strike the terrorist camp in Pakistan, has conveyed that India has upped the ante. If Pakistan is going to support terrorist activities in Kashmir, it needs to be prepared for a strong reaction. The air strike has established a new normal.
The international community has spoken about the need for Pakistan to take meaningful action against terrorist groups on its territory. The release of Wing Commander Abhinandan was a combination of international and military pressure on Pakistan. The director general of Pakistan's inter-services public relations (DGISPR) himself said that they have conveyed their capabilities but did not want the situation to escalate. So I think the release of Abhinandan was part of it. The time has come for Pakistan to rethink its strategy about what they have been doing openly so far in supporting terrorist groups. I think there will be a serious rethink in the Pakistani leadership.
We must not treat this as a one-off incident. What is most important is the need to have consistency in our approach. A major step towards building that consistency is by adopting a national security strategy (NSS). The strategic community has always demanded this. The strategy has to have a vision and a followup of what kind of structures we need. I am not talking about just external or internal security aspects but looking at a holistic approach of building capacities of police forces, intelligence gathering, handling cyber security threats and ensuring overall security by looking at energy security, climate change and disaster mitigation. The NSS has to cover various dimensions—domestic, external, military, economic, ecological and strategic. There has to be a well-defined structure to look into security threats on all these fronts and frame responses and policies. Most countries have adopted an NSS that forms the bedrock of the government's vision and decision-making processes.
I have been asked by the Congress to draft a vision paper on national security. We are not doing it for the government but it is definitely a beginning in the right direction. There will be experts in the field associated with us and there will be interaction with a lot of people. I hope to complete this process in a month. The vision paper will most likely be put out in the public domain for a larger discussion.
As told to Namrata Biji Ahuja.
Retired Lt Gen Deependra Singh Hooda led the Northern Command during the surgical strikes in 2016.