India's Strategic Precept Modi Changes The Doctrine

Prime minister Modi’s statesmanship and that of president XI, will determine the final outcome (of the Indo-Pak conflict) now

- Prabal Basu Roy

Prime Minister Vajpayee had changed the doctrine in 1998 with the nuclear blast at Pokhran. It is again an NDA government, albeit under a PM with a radically different mindset, who has changed the doctrine yet again. To his advantage he had 20 years of unqualified restraint demonstrated by India under different dispensations for repeated and increasingly belligerent moves by Pakistan sponsored terrorist outfits – Kargil, the J&K Assembly, the Parliament, 26/11, Uri and finally the Pulwama attacks.

The courage to use the Air Force in crossing the Line of Control (LOC) and the international border in a limited retaliatory strike is what changes the paradigm of our engagement with Pakistan. Conventional wisdom would indicate that use of the Air Force in crossing the border would invite a potential war with a nuclear-armed adversary – this bluff has now been firmly called by India. It needed huge elements of political decisiveness and courage to unleash our highly disciplined and professional Armed Forces towards a focused objective. Game theory in a real world scenario!