Terrorism continues to be India’s primary and most immediate security concern. This has been stated in the Annual Report of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2003-2004 released in New Delhi today.
The report says, Pakistan has been the source of infiltration, cross-border terrorism, military adventurism, nuclear and missile posturing and threats. India’s strategic location at the centre of the arc of extremist activism and terrorism, amplified by a history of Pakistan’s use of it to wage a low-intensity proxy war against India; the prospect of terrorists getting access to weapons of mass destruction and the wanton disregard they have for the lives of other and themselves, require that India be particularly on guard against the phenomenon.
The Defence Ministry feels that the principal threat to peace and stability in the region remains the combinations of fundamentalism and terrorism nurtured in madarssas and training camps in the area and the history ingrained adventurism of a section of the Pakistan military motivated by its obsessive and compulsive hostility towards India.
The report says that unlike the non-state nature of most domestic and local manifestations of terrorism and the international terrorism of Al Qaeda or the Jemmah Islamiyah, the terrorism faced by India is typically cross-border and State – sponsored.
According to the Defence Ministry, diplomacy remains India’s chosen means of dealing with these challenges, but effective diplomacy has to be backed by credible military power. India’s strategic and security interest require a mix of land based, maritime and air capabilities and a minimum credible deterrent to thwart the threat of use of nuclear weapons against it, the report says.
Referring to India’s security preoccupations which are determined by the dynamics of the global and regional strategic and security environment, the report says, India’s location at the centre of an arc of terrorism between North Africa and South East Asia, its close proximity to a key source of nuclear proliferation and the continuing acts of terrorism from across her western border require it to maintain a high level of vigilance and defence preparedness. According to the Annual Report of the Ministry of Defence, the nature of new threats has also reinforced the need for international cooperation to combat terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and underline the role that India could play in the global response against such forces. Few countries in the world face the range of security challenges, concern and threats that India faces today, says the report.
The Defence Ministry report says India has faced a series of low intensity conflicts such as a proxy war fanned by radical Jehadi outfits and supported by state institutions; insurgencies, in many cases tolerated, aided or abetted by sources from outside India and spillovers of conflicts in neighbouring states. At the other end, it inhabits an environment in which two of its neighbours have nuclear weapons and missiles and its immediate neighbourhood has been a source of nuclear proliferation, the report adds.
Expressing concern over the activities of the superpowers close to our coastlines, the report says the seas surrounding India have been a theatre of super power rivalry in the past and continue to be a region of heightened activity from and by extra-regional navies on account of global security concerns.
Dealing with the situation in the Indian sub-continent the report says, despite close and good relations with most of its other immediate neighbours, lesser security problems continue to complicate relationships. Bangladesh has not been responsive to India’s concerns regarding the presence and activities of Indian insurgent groups from the northeast and the Pakistani Inter–Services Intelligence (ISI) on Bangladesh soil, large-scale illegal immigration and border crimes. In Nepal, the growing influence and grip of the Maoists throughout the country particularly in the Terai areas bordering India’s and their links with left extremist outfits in parts of India are a cause of serious concern. Appreciating the efforts of Bhutan, the report says that it displayed courage and good-neighbouriless in acting against military camps and bases of operations of Indian insurgent groups within its territory in the interest of mutual security. About Myanmar, the report says that despite periodic coordination of efforts, Indian insurgent groups from the north-east continue to operate from camps in Myanmar.
Referring to the menace of terrorism and trafficking in and proliferation of arms and drugs in the region, the report says in the midst of this, India stands as a center of economic gravity in the region, a bastion of stability and a symbol of peaceful coexistence and non-violence. An appreciation of India’s security concerns and its security is thus critical to regional and global stability and security, the report adds.
India and China have stepped up efforts to build mutual trust and confidence. Both sides are trying to address differences over the boundary question and are agreed that pending an ultimate boundary settlement, the two countries would work together to maintain peace and tranquility in their border areas and continue to implement the agreement signed for this purpose.
At the same time, China’s close defence relationships with and regular military assistance to Pakistan, including assistance in the latter’s nuclear missile programmes at critical stages, it build up in the Tibet Autonomous Region, its military modernization, its nuclear and missile arsenals and its continental and maritime aspirations, require observations.
The report has highlighted four key elements fundamental to India’s security planning, they are:-
(a) The Indian Armed Forces have to be prepared for the full spectrum of security challenges from terrorism and low-intensity conflict to conventional war and the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons and missiles.
(b) India not being a member of any military alliance or strategic grouping, requires a certain independent deterrent capability.
(c) Due to an externally inspired low-intensity proxy war, India’s Armed Forces are involved in internal security functions – more than most other armed forces – requiring a corresponding force structure and orientation.
(d) India’s interest and responsibilities in the North Indian Ocean, including security of her EEZ and island territories, and shipping in the region, highlight the need for a blue water naval capability commensurate with its responsibilities.
The Defence Ministry Report says India remains fully committed to maintaining peace with its neighbours and stability in the region through a combination of defence-preparedness, unilateral restraint, confidence building and dialogue and expanding bilateral interactions. According to the Report, in the area of defence preparedness, India has reformed its higher defence management and streamlined procurement procedures. Its force postures remain defensive in orientation while its nuclear polity is characterized by a commitment to no-first-use, moratorium on nuclear testing, minimum credible nuclear deterrence and the rejection of an arms race or concepts and postures from the Cold War era.