There is an urgent need to formulate a ‘Counter Proxy War Doctrine’ that integrates diplomacy, defence, development and other tools of hard and soft power.
India’s international borders and disputed boundaries with its neighbours are guarded by five different Central Armed Police Forces, two Paramilitary Forces and the Indian Army.
‘The People Next Door’ is the name of a 1968 television (TV) series made into a 1970 Hollywood movie, a 1996 TV film, a 2008 novel, again a 2016 TV film, and, in the case of the book being reviewed, a non-fiction historical book. When we spend time in observing neighbours, the act has a voyeuristic feel.
Whenever a civilian government has attempted to improve relations with India, it has either had to backtrack on promises made or the Pakistan Army ensures that, through its actions at the LoC and inside J&K, these promises stand scuttled.
The current policy is premised on the understanding that unless India hurts the principal architect of Pakistan’s Kashmir policy, that is, the Army, terrorism would continue unabated.
The monograph urges a policy re-positioning by aggregating key geopolitical parameters concerning PoK which potentially impinge on India’s vital territorial and security interests.
India should use SCO for building convergences with China and Russia as well as minimise the intensity of China-Pakistan alignment which undercuts India’s direct access to Eurasia.
