New theatre command would be unique: CDS

General Chauhan says plan sees India's geography as an entity, looks beyond

- SATARUPA BHATTACHARJYA

India’s integrated theatre command plan takes into consideration strategic challenges on land and opportunities in the maritime space, said Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, who submitted his final report on the matter to the government recently.

In an exclusive interview with Business Standard in New Delhi on Thursday, the CDS also spoke about Operation Sindoor, the India-China border and India’s defence budget.

“The geography of India would be taken as one entity and we look beyond,” the CDS said when asked about the broad categories of the proposed command structure.

“There are two adversaries. There will be something. There'll be something in the maritime domain (too). These are as per our challenges and threats.”

While the CDS did not mention specific countries or provide details in this context, external-security analysts have long held that India views Pakistan and China as its two major strategic challenges. When asked if the theatre command is tied to India’s ambitions, looking at power projections by the United States (US) and China, the CDS said that rather than categorising countries as regional or global powers, “we should consider that India has responsibilities both in the continental and the maritime domains”. India sees more opportunities in the maritime domain than threats and challenges at this time, and more threats and challenges on the continental domain, he said. “In the future, there could be opportunity there also if we settled borders.”