‘If Pak were to compete with us, it won’t survive’

In the eyes of the world even today we are perceived as merely one of the developing nations. I have had high hopes from you, since I heard you in my college days in Mumbai in 1960s. What is the use of the might for the common man that you are talking about?
India’s power is multi-faceted. What we require for the security of the country, that power we possess. The capital required for the development of the country is being generated and utilised to the satisfaction of the government. Since the NDA govt has assumed office, more than Rs 54,000 crore have been invested for laying a network of roads in the country; Rs 20,000 crore are being spent to link the villages by roads. But I feel that the matter of greatest price is that today we have such a defence capability that no enemy would even dare to stare at us, this is unprecedented for our country.

Ever since the present NDA government has taken over, Indian security has suffered, whether it was Kargil, attack on Parliament or Kaluchak. But this government has been cleverly manipulating the situation in its favour, this is an issue involving the lives of people and not votes what do you say?
This may be your listner’s view. He does not know about the security preparedness. Those in the know of things, are aware how we have successfully dealt with the situation. In our country we do not hold public debates on strategic matters.

On what basis did the govt reject the recommendation of the National Security Advisory Board that we should have a re-think on ‘no first use policy’?
No basis was actually required to reject this recommendation. When we decided on this policy in the first place, it was done only after we had carefully thought on the issue.

There has been a worry that the Indian Nuclear Command Structure is not fully safe or fool-proof, especially when India loses so many soldiers even in laying of landmines?
If you are talking about the Nuclear Command Structure, it is in place. On the nuclear weapons issue, the entire rights rest with the Prime Minister. So far as you have mentioned about the deaths of armed forces personnel, I know that people living in the border areas have faced hardships due to this. But at the time when landmines were laid, it was compulsory, there was no alternative.

Indian government has been test-firing so many missiles, but has failed to stop missiles of merely six feet in the shape of Mujahideens infiltrating from across the border?
Militants cannot be stopped or killed by missiles. It is not known from where they would try to infiltrate, especially in the wake of active support they get from Pakistan. This country has taken upon itself the task of spreading militancy throughout the world, and in that, doing the first experiment in the Indian territory.

China has taken the Coco island near Andaman Nicobar on lease from Burma to use it as an army base, it is also helping Pakistan in building a port which would be used for military purposes? What is the Indian govt doing about it?
Coco Island was a part of India, until it was donated to Burma by Pt Nehru. China and Pakistan have been old friends, but as of today we can say that efforts are being made to improve relations between India and China, if we continue the ongoing efforts, we would achieve success.

Is it right to use the army for counter-insurgency operations?
I am personally not in favour of this. The work of the army is to protect the borders and fight wars, and not to struggle with the internal problems of the country. But today we are dealing with a ‘proxy war’. It is a war imposed on us by Pakistan.

When India conducted nuclear tests, so did Pakistan. Indian missile tests are matched by Pakistan. So where is the superiority?
It is not a question of merely Indian military might. India’s Gross National Income last year was nearly $500 billion, whereas Pakistan’s was at around $60-62 billion. If you compare all these with Pakistan, we are supreme numerically and qualitatively. It is alright that they are doing what they think is important for their security. But if Pakistan were to compete with India, it would not survive, this is known to the World and Pakistan.

But if the Pakistani nuclear weapons fell in the hands of hardline Islamic terrorist elements, what danger would be posed to India?
We believe that whatever be the policy of Pakistani leadership towards India, it is difficult to accept that they would put such weapons in the hands of individuals or organisations, who might eventually use them. We have been saying all through, that the person who heads Pakistan today has been talking about using dangerous weapons including the nukes. Well, I would reply by saying that if Pakistan has decided that it wants to get itself destroyed and erased from the world map, then it may take this step of madness, but if wants to survive then it would not do so.