Few days back Gen MM Naravane, former COAS, commented that going in for Theaterisation without having spelt out the National Security Strategy (NSS) would be like putting the cart before the horse. This merits elaboration as the ramifications of not following the due process may be very serious.
Formulation of a NSS is deemed to be very essential for us as there’s constant threat from China and Pakistan. We need to maintain a Force level that is commensurate with the threat posed. Force level required will flow out of NSS.
Without a National Security Doctrine in place, one can’t even begin to discuss how the defence services should be structured and fight a war, any war, from a national two front full-fledged conventional war to a localised conflict like at Kargil.
Change is the necessity of time and a desirable feature of human life. Thoughts and beliefs keep changing with advancing time. Theatre commands are not the best solution when the aim is not specified. Let the leadership decide where the nation should be 50 yrs hence, have a National doctrine to follow and then the structure of the military can be designed.
We have 75 years of Independence behind us, with a history of four full-fledged wars, sustained insurgencies or hybrid wars, disputed borders, territories captured by China and still our politico-bureaucracy together have failed to have a NSS.
NSS is a document which takes into account the obtaining geo-political scenario and identifies the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to arrive at some understanding as to which direction should be taken to keep the territorial integrity of the country intact and how to deal with the countries which indulge in hybrid wars to create a tense internal security situation.
This document also deals extensively with our own faultlines and takes measures to prevent their exploitation. In short, this document tells the AFs to be prepared and to be prepared for what.
India, so far, has been dithering and the reason could be only few, either we don’t have the competence at the top to produce such a document or we don’t have the will to do so deliberately and a third one is that we don’t have neither the will nor the competence to produce it.
Competence part can be fixed by wide ranging discussions on the subject between the various stakeholders hence it can be addressed but it is the will which is quite an issue to tackle because this document will force the various stakeholders to act and build capabilities and capacities to support the AFs and with that will come the accountability as the review of these capabilities and capacities will be undertaken by the armed forces periodically and serious questions will be asked and the politicians along with the bureaucracy will have to answer them.
Had our political class and the bureaucracy been a shade more committed and had they cared for that soldier on that border then they would have indulged in this exercise long time back and certainly after 1962 debacle.
But as the things stand we don’t have it. This simply means that our bureaucracy is doing what it does best and that is avoiding accountability at all cost. In 2018 our National Security Adviser was given the task of hammering out the NSS. And if ex-Chief of Army Staff is saying that we still don’t have it, then we are actually doing nothing but grandstanding by going in for Theaterisation.
If it does come through then we will really compound our problems by many folds instead of solving them as Theatres require self sustainable models in terms of manpower and equipment, which, as of now, is impossible given the critical shortages in almost everything or else we would not have lost such a large territory to China after 1962 when it was doing salami slicing in plain sight in Ladakh and parts of Arunachal.
Our Bureaucracy especially will have to prove both its competence and commitment to the country by making sure that it does produces this vital document for the sake of comprehensive understanding by all concerned about the security issues at stake.
Gen Narvane has done well to point out the gap, now it is upto the civil society and the strategic community to force the Government to produce the NSS.
Sometimes, it is worth indulging in valid criticism of the government and this seems like one issue where our narrow political leanings should be momentarily forgotten to get the government of the day to act appropriately.
