NEW DELHI: Former Northern Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda, the main architect of the 2016 surgical attacks carried out against terror launch pads across Line of Control, has said that “one-odd surgical strike or air strike” won’t make Pakistan change its behaviour.
“One-odd surgical strike or air strike will not force Pakistan to change its behaviour, dealing with Pakistan requires a long-term strategic policy,” said Hooda while addressing a seminar ‘Beyond Politics: Debating a new Security Manifesto’ in Delhi on Sunday.
Lt Gen Hooda (retired) was picked by the Congress to head its task force on national security. The report by the task force was made public by the Congress earlier in the day.
The former general cautioned about the “growing alienation, anger, radicalisation in Kashmir”. “We need to address the two centre of gravities — Pakistan interfering in Jammu and Kashmir and the internal causes fueling unrest—together,” he said, adding that India has not been able to give the people of Jammu and Kashmir “a well-crafted narrative.”
On China, Lt Gen Hooda said India must be prepared for a long-term strategic rivalry and growing trade alone cannot overcome this.
“One of ways that could reduce the tension with China is demarcating the Line of Actual Control (LAC),” he said. He then went on to highlight the lack of infrastructure and roads along the LAC.
India, Lt Gen Hooda said, will need a separate command that can look at cyber threats and importantly counter narratives of organisations like the Islamic State. “While organisations like National Technical Organisation and the Cyber Security Coordinator are doing excellent work, there are gaps when it comes to using offensive cyber capabilities,” he added.
Former home minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said war is not an option for India. “We have still a long way to go before becoming a middle-income county and we cannot aspire to do things that are beyond our economic capacity,” he said.
Chidambaram supported normalizing of relations with Pakistan and said successive prime ministers have said “friends can be changed but not neighbours”. He questioned the NDA government for its “muscular policy” in Kashmir and said “all indicators of 2018 show it has not worked”.