BOOK
REVIEW
TITLE:
SECURING INDIA THE MODI WAY
PATHANKOT
SURGICAL STRIKES AND MORE
AUTHOR:
NITIN A GOKHALE
PUBLISHER:
BLOOMSBURY INDIA, 2017
PRICE:Rs.
499/- HARDBACK
No More Playing At Mr. Nice Guy
Only once in a while does one come upon a book
which is non-fiction, and on the defence/intelligence/security policy and
establishment, but more compelling than its imagined counterpart.
This is thanks to the author Nitin Gokhale’s
basic training as a journalist of over 30 years standing, rather than the
fulminations of a typically stuffier “expert”.
For India, living for long in a Gandhian cum
Nehruvian haze of confusion that our enemies have exploited, a change of
attitude is most welcome.
Of course, the Indira Gandhi years were an
exception to the foreign policy naivete that preceded and succeeded it.
Prime Minister Modi is often likened to Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi, both for his ability to garner votes like her, and
refusing to be anybody’s push-over.
So the
new resolve, coming from the highest political level, has evidently liberated
the National Security establishment and the Armed Forces to do their jobs
without hindrance, and show all what they are truly capable of.
It is making Pakistan and China less certain of
what to expect from India after years of a predictable timidity and disgraceful
unpreparedness in security terms.
Now all this is changing before their very eyes,
as the surgical strikes through the LoC and the Doklam standoff demonstrated to
each respectively.
Continued work on connectivity and border area
infrastructure including train lines, roads and airports, placement of missiles
and other military hardware, and the raising of Mountain Corps trained to
operate at high altitude and difficult terrain, leaves no one in any doubt.
Combined with an energetic and muscular
diplomacy led by the Prime Minister that
has gained a fresh understanding of India in the comity of nations, things have
changed a great deal.
Gokhale’s book from start to finish reflects,
with glowing approval, this new confidence, though it also underlines our
bureaucratic approach. The audacious Surgical Strike, post the attack on an
Army unit at Uri, is a departure from the norm typical of Modi.
Gokhale
describes, in time-lined reporter format how India retaliated on 29 September
2016, sending soldiers into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to wipe out some 80
terrorists/ Pakistan Army personnel without suffering any losses of its own.
The saving of the massive Pathankot Air Base,
also in 2016, using effective multi-specialized units, based on timely and
credible Intelligence is notable too.
Going further back into 2015, Gokhale describes
the “hot pursuit tactics” employed using Special Forces. This, into Myanmar, in retaliation for several ambushes suffered
by Indian forces. The insurgents in Manipur and Nagaland typically slipped away
into multiple camps some 10 km. inside Myanmar.
The signal strikes here were followed up by
visits by the Indian National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, and the
Foreign Secretary Jaishankar to obtain Myanmar’s endorsement to the actions
taken into its territory.
Nitin Gokhale goes on to tour the diplomatic
territory too, the fresh reengagement with West Asia - UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Israel, as well as Iran.
It points to the tangible success of Chabahar
as an India-Iran-Afghanistan initiative, joined also by Japan of late. With the
first wheat shipment to Kabul via Chabahar reaching safely, Afghanistan has
been quick to point out its sole dependence on Karachi Port is over.
This Government’s dealing with Maoist violence
in 10 States in Central India is still a work in progress though, with liberal
uses of both carrot and stick.
There is the force, of the Central Armed Police
Forces (CAPFs) - CRPF, SSB, CISF, BSF and the ITPB under the leadership of the
Home Ministry’s Rajnath Singh, plus the thrust towards “Vikas” via roads and
infrastructure development.
Is it working? Hearts and minds apart, the number of clashes
have come down to 554, from 2,213 in 2010.
Civilians killed in 2010 were 720, including suspected “police
informers” (320). This is down to 113 as on 15th August 2017, with
63 of them being alleged informers. Similar declining trends are seen in the
number of security forces killed, arms recovered, and so on.
The worst internal situation of this kind is
certainly in the Kashmir Valley where frequent
attempts at appeasement have not yielded good results.
Modi’s policy of eliminating known terrorists
and pulling apart the veil on Hurriyat complicity, has given Pakistan a fresh
strategic headache. And this applies to new fronts sought to be opened by
Pakistan’s ISI and others in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala (ISIS), and even Punjab
(Khalistanis from Canada).
Gokhale has written a long chapter on “Standing
up to China”. It encompasses India’s closer relationship with Japan, its refusal
to participate in the CPEC citing the illegal use of PoK, the Dalai Lama’s
visit to Tawang, the initiating of quickened development and infrastructure in
Arunachal Pradesh, and of course, the stand-offs at Doklam and in Leh.
In addition, India has drawn closer to B
IMSTEC, ASEAN, Australia.
There is
military, economic, and high technology potential from drawing closer to
Israel, America, France, Britain. India continues strong with Russia, and with
a lot of the oil and uranium rich Central Asian Republics. There is no neglect
of Beijing and BRICS, G-20 etc. either.
But China is no longer in a position to take an
aggressive military posture with India.
The chapter on the Ministry of Defence reveals
how the Indian establishment, both political and bureaucratic, has been and
continues to be, the worst obstacle. They have made pig’s breakfast of Modi’s
ambitious plans to manufacture in India state-of-the-art armaments and
equipment in collaboration with the best in the world. It smacks of clashing and
powerfully entrenched vested interests.
The book ends with a happy chapter on the
accomplishments of the ISRO ( Indian Space Research Organisation), and a
worried note on our capability to secure the cyber domain. This covers threats
to power, banking, communications , transportation, all in the backdrop of
persistent suspicion that China is able
to knock our fighters and helicopters out of the sky (in Arunachal Pradesh),
because of their prowess at cyber-hacking.
For:
The Sunday Pioneer BOOKS
(991
words)
November
15th , 2017
Gautam
Mukherjee
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