War for taking back PoK should be war of choice: Ex-DGMO Anil Bhatt

MILITARY conflict with Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack has brought into focus the importance of drones in modern warfare, which along with space and cyber-space will write the new paradigm of future wars, a former Director General of Military Operations, who oversaw the Doklam crisis, has said.

- VIJAY JOSHI AND SAGAR KULKARNI

In an interview with PTI Videos on Thursday, retired Lt Gen Anil Kumar Bhatt also expressed his displeasure at suggestions in social media by many warmongers who were unhappy with the conflict ending in four days on the grounds that it was an opportunity to reclaim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

War, he said, should be the last option and should not be waged since India had achieved its strategic aims.

"Let me tell you, a war or taking back Pak-occupied Kashmir, should be a war of choice, taken by a decision. That is not what was planned this time. Yes, the Indian military was prepared for it, if the escalating ladder took you there," said Bhatt, who is guiding the growth of the private space technology sector in the country after retirement in June 2020.

As DGMO, Bhatt was one of the most senior military officers in the hierarchy, in-charge of ensuring that the armed forces were operationally ready at all times. Reporting directly to the army chief, the DGMO is intimately involved in shaping strategies to deal with immediate and long-term security challenges, besides coordinating with the other two services as well as civilian and paramilitary security forces.

In times of crisis and escalated tensions, it falls on the DGMO to communicate with his opposite number. Currently, the DGMO is Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai.

Bhatt was DGMO in 2017 when India was locked in a 73-day military standoff with China in the Doklam tri-junction near the Sikkim sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). A four-star lieutenant general is the second highest rank in the army, below a five-star general. A field marshal is largely a ceremonial or war-time rank.

"So what I would tell all my fellow countrymen is, war is a serious business. A very, very serious business. And a nation goes for it when all possible options are over. We had options less than war (during the current crisis) and gave a sense to it," said Bhatt, who spent 38 years in the Army.