The Indian Force Posture

The Indian Force Posture 

Dr. Jassim Taqui

In a fascinating discussion on the above mentioned topic, the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) organized an in house seminar today. The President/Executive Director Dr. Zafar Iqbal Cheema moderated the seminar and delivered the concluding remarks.

First speaker  Lt. Gen. Naeem Khalid Lodhi spoke on the Indian belief system and mindset. He noted that the Indian strategy had transformed from the notion of “ the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” to “ long transition state,” that focuses on economic development building and a posture of a global power to enhance its prestige rather than to assume the role of colonial power.

Speaking about the issue of occupied State of Jammu and Kashmir, Gen. Lodhi said that India was against giving the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination, fearing that  conceding any territorial concessions to the Kashmiri people could lead to the disintegration of the Indian state.

Ambassador Fauzia Nasreen maintained that there are two schools of thought in India that define the strategic culture. The first is what she termed,” Indian-ness” or the moralists. The second is the liberals who believe in the political culture of balance of powers on the British Raj Model.

Nasreen maintained that the current tension emanates from the Indian anger of Pakistan, which has frustrated its designs to expand in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Dr. Hussain Shaheed Sohrwardi pointed out that India is witnessing a continued era of transition from neoliberal; to free-market reform, from socialism to capitalism and from politics to economic development. Thus, the Indian diplomacy has essentially entered the uncharted waters.

Sohrwardi was critical of the Pak Foreign Policy since the nation continues to be without a full-time foreign minister for the last three and half years. Consequently, the government is not functioning with an active policy but rather with a reactive policy, precipitating the current tension in bilateral relations especially when India is witnessing a “ sluggishness.”

While all the three above mentioned experts expected that the current tension would not result in a war between India and Pakistan, Al-Bab Institute For Strategic Studies submitted a “minority report.” 

According to Al-Bab, the think tanks and security specialists should take into account the worst possible scenario. Hence, one should not be dismissive of a possibility of a localized war or even a surprise war. The civil and military leaderships should take into account that India might be using deception with Pakistan to divert its attention from a bigger action somewhere else.

Al-Bab maintained that the Uri base incident was a False Flag Operation, which the Indian Intelligence executed to divert the attention of the international community from India’s massive human rights violations in occupied State of Jammu and Kashmir. Al-Bab reminded the participants of the seminar that False Flag Operations were practiced almost by all major intelligence agencies since the 17^th century and should not wrongly perceived as reflections of “conspiracy theory.”

Depicting a gloomy picture of the Indian designs, Al-Bab called upon strategists to enlighten the decision-makers on the modes of anticipating and foiling a possible Indian localized or surprised war. According to Al-Bab, such practice is paramount to preserving the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Pakistan.