How to wave the flag

In his recent address to army commanders, Defence Minister A.K. Antony is reported to have made two important propositions. Taken together, they could transform India8217;s military doctrine. One, that 8220;our strategic interests extend far beyond the South Asian region8221;. The other is an acknowledgment of the increasing 8220;involvement of Armed Forces 8212; not necessarily under the aegis of the UN 8212; in resolving ongoing conflicts and defusing international tensions.8221;

For decades, India has had a double-faced policy on deploying its military abroad. On the one hand, it had rejected any role for the UN in India8217;s decisions to use force within the subcontinent 8212; India did not seek UN permission for its military interventions in East Pakistan and Sri Lanka. On the other, foreign office multilateralists, with an eye on international careers, had prevailed with their argument that any deployment of troops beyond the subcontinent should only be under a UN mandate. The problem is not with this patent hypocrisy. It is with the conscious abandonment of national sovereignty in big decisions on when and where India might send its boys in uniform. During the Cold War it seemed sensible to offer India8217;s surplus military capacity as a collective international good. Yet, it was absurd then and is now to suggest decisions on troop deployment abroad must be taken by US, China and other permanent members of the UN Security Council. Even more absurd was the army8217;s readiness to treat international peace-keeping operations as an opportunity to earn hard currency allowances. If India8217;s interests go well beyond the region, as Antony rightly suggests, then it stands to reason that our Armed Forces should be prepared to defend them, irrespective of what Washington and Beijing might think. The question of when and where India deploys its troops, and an assessment of the risks and rewards of using force beyond borders should be political judgments for the Union cabinet, not the UN.

That there is a debate on India8217;s peace-keeping strategy is a sign of fresh thinking in army headquarters. As it joins the navy and air force in looking beyond territorial defence, the army must now concentrate on building credible and dedicated expeditionary forces. That would call for jointmanship between the three services to rapidly deliver an Indian force to address military contingencies far from our shores.