Border infra-upgrade and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ will prevent Kargil with China
With Russia getting bogged down in Ukraine war, India has no options but to build strong indigenous defence supply chains
India will commemorate the 24th anniversary of its military triumph in the Kargil War of 1999 tomorrow. By planning army incursions north of Zoji La and south of Chorbat La, south of southern glacier, a blind Pakistan Army Chief forced the war onto India with the aim of capturing the Kashmir Valley and Saltoro Ridge on the Saichen Glacier.
The Indian Army took more than two months to drive the invaders out but lost 527 braves in the process because they were initially shocked by the audacity of the plan.
The war demonstrated that the Indian Army could defeat the enemy against all difficulties, and each soldier knew how to slay an opponent regardless of whether he belonged to a martial race.
The Indian military's success at Kargil over treacherous Pakistan brought cross-border terrorism, which Islamabad has been engaging in since 1990, to the attention of the world.
However, it also demonstrated how India could protect its borders with prudence and impose significant military and political consequences on the adversary.
Even though India lost brave young soldiers and officers on frigid battlefields and rarefied heights, the war marked a turning point for India and an essential step in its journey to become a developed country.
First, the conflict compelled the nation's political establishment to start modernizing its conventional armed forces as well as reform the national security architecture, with a task force led by K Subramanyam, the father of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, outlining the necessary conditions.
Another issue is that it took a while for armed forces and security changes to make their way through the cumbersome Indian bureaucracy. The Subrahmanyam Committee recommended the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) position under the NDA administration of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but it took a group of ministers led by then-Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani two decades to put the advice into action. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed General Bipin Rawat as the first CDS of the country on January 1st, 2020.
In order to meet the People's Liberation Army's challenge during the interim, the Indian Army reorganized its commands and established a strike corps against China at Pannagarh, directly across from the Chumbi Valley-Silliguri corridor.
With Ajit Doval's establishment of the multi-agency center (MAC) and joint task force on intelligence (JTFI) during his brief time as Director, Intelligence Bureau, in 2004, reforms were also started in the Indian intelligence.
Second, India began border infrastructure improvement at the same time as military and intelligence reforms, figuratively banishing the ghost of the 1962 conflict.
Even in the early years of the twenty-first century, Indian military planners were hesitant to construct roads going to their northern frontiers for fear that the Chinese may use them to launch a Bomdi La attack on India along the 3488-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The truth is that, until the Kargil War pushed them to act, neither the Indian Army nor the political leadership—with the exception of PM Vajpayee and his unconventional Defense Minister George Fernandes—had the guts to take on the rising China or, for that matter, its tributary state, Pakistan.
The media vilified Vajpayee and Fernandes for attributing China's nuclear tests in 1998 to the Communist country and characterizing it as a potential danger. Building on the initiatives started by the previous UPA administration, border infrastructure improvement has been actively pursued over the past nine years.
Modern platforms like Chinook helicopters and advanced landing grounds have been installed all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), allowing for the rapid insertion of forces to meet the challenge of a superpower neighbor.
In order to prevent Chinese and its client Pakistan from surprising Indian forces stationed on Saltoro Ridge as part of the CPEC, which passes through the Northern Areas and the Shaksgam Valley north of the TeramShehr glacier, the air strips at Daulet Beg Oldi(DBO), Nyoma, Thoise, and Leh have been improved.
The reality is that after the terrorist attacks in Uri and Pulwama, surgical strikes in occupied Kashmir and an airstrike on a terror base in Balakot have made Pakistan's civilian and military leadership dread India. After Col.
Santosh Babu of 16 Bihar and his valiant soldiers demonstrated to the PLA in Galwan on June 15, 2020, the PLA is no longer certain. However, the Indian Army actions in south Pangong Tso on August 29–31, 2020, coordinated by NSA Doval, CDS Rawat, and Army Chief M M Naravane, were what put the brakes on PLA aggression because India was prepared to confront the Chinese Army at that crucial time.
The message being sent today is that India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would respond to any infringement and will protect its borders with all of its power, just as it did in Kargil. It will make advantage of all available military options.
Third, despite the advent of stand-off weapons like drones, cyber, and missiles, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, like the Kargil conflict, has demonstrated that conventional warfare is still a possibility. Russia is experiencing setbacks in the Ukraine battle despite having overwhelming force, as it took the Indian Army more than two months to annihilate the Pakistan Army troops stationed on the Kargil heights.
The military losses Russia has endured make it clear that wars have a tendency to drag on and can result in a loss of military reputation. The conflict in Ukraine is not just instructive for India, but also for China, which desires Taiwan, the South China Sea, Arunachal Pradesh, and the imposition of a 1959 line in East Ladakh on India.
Four, even though Pakistani incursions into the Mushkoh area began in March 1999, or even earlier than the tragic bus trip to Lahore, the Indian military-civilian bureaucracy only became aware of the situation in May 1999, when Pakistani artillery shelling threatened the then-National Highway 1 Alpha. According to history, the Indian Air Force did not arrive until May 26th, following clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security, and only after the conflict had made clear the bureaucratic delays in the weapons procurement program.
A democratic India with its power-grabbing politicians and self-serving bureaucracy would always be found wanting in decision-making and implementation when compared to an authoritarian China without any political or civic opposition.
While National Security Advisor Ajit Doval oversaw operations in Kashmir during the Kargil War and India's current Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba served as the personal assistant to Defence Minister George Fernandes, the decolonization of the Indian bureaucracy is still a work in progress because decisions are process-driven rather than result-driven and do not align with national interests.
Last but not least, the Indian Army fell at the hands of Pakistani artillery at Kargil because it lacked laser directed munitions, surveillance drones, and cannon finding radars.In the same way that Israel delivered Searcher drones, the radars were purchased from the US after the conflict, and in June 1999, laser guided bomb kits for observation and targeting were introduced at the last minute in the Drass region.
Israel provided the border sensors after the war to stop cross-border infiltration in the Valley.Given that Russia is currently enmeshed in the Ukraine and is no longer a trustworthy supplier due to its "no limits" friendship with China, India needs to embrace "Make in India" on a full spectrum to ensure that the Indian military has both indigenous platforms and ammunition to fight a protracted war and defend India.
Even though PM Modi has been fervently promoting the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" program, the Indian defense PSUs and hardware makers are blocking the entry of the private sector in this industry and taking use of fifth columnists. In order for India to achieve its goal of being a developed country by 2047, a robust defense supply chain is necessary. Today, China, a new superpower, not Pakistani gasbags, is the enemy.
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