There is no doubt on the wisdom of new Army Chief General Bikram Singh who proposed “Time Gain Strategy” to build power at par with China and Pakistan. But one wonders, if he would be trusted in New Delhi and Washington after his Kashmiri, Pakistani and Afghan links. On assuming the charge, General Bikram Singh has expressed plans to ease tension with Pakistan and China. Under the prevailing situation, since bulk of Pakistani forces are engaged in Western theater to counter potential threat to western countries, New Delhi feels much relaxed. General Bikram Singh is quite comfortable with Washington and Tel Aviv and attempt may be made to use him as pawn in the “Great Game”. During his tenure in Congo, he served the western interests to an extent where he openly violated United Nations directives. During his course at US Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania he developed good friendship with American top services officers and was considered as pro-America officer. Washington is provoking New Delhi to launch a small operation inside Northern parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir in the name of cross border terrorism but such misadventure under the command General Bikram Singh seems remote. In such a case Washington may take other steps such as attack by third party that may lead further deterioration of Pakistan-India relations.
There are reports that General Bikram Singh has opposed the revocation of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act from some parts of the state in such a situation. However, same could not be confirmed as he was quoted by a Kashmiri journalist that he promised revocation. If we recall, India's new President Pranab Mukherjee, in his first presidential speech while highlighting terrorism said, “I am proud of the valour and conviction and steely determination of the armed forces as they have fought this menace on our borders; of our brave police forces as they have met the enemy within; and of our people, who have defeated the terrorist trap by remaining calm in the face of extraordinary provocation”. While describing the war against terrorism as the fourth world war, he said, “We are in the midst of a fourth world war; the third was the Cold War, but it was very warm in Asia, Africa and Latin America till it ended in the early 1990s. The war against terrorism is the fourth; and it is a world war because it can raise its evil head anywhere in the world.” Pointing indirectly finger on Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Mukherjee suspected cross border terrorism from its neighbourhood. However, at the same time, Mukherjee was honest enough to accept home grown terrorism when he linked terrorism to enemy within and indirectly expressed his concern over Maoists, Bodos, Tamils, Bangalis, Sikhs, Kashmiris, Indian Muslims and others.
India has plans to spend over US $100 billion in acquiring weapon systems and platforms over the next decade to counter external enemies. India has already purchased defence items worth over $8 billion over the last few years while New Delhi acquired the position of second largest FMS (Foreign Military Sales) customer of US in 2011 with imports worth $4.5 billion. In a nut shell New Delhi has joined the western conspiracy against the East, especially Muslims. As regard to internal threats, despite the fact that General Bikram Singh is regarded as pro-west general in Indian Army, there are high hopes that he would verify the self-engineered Intelligence Inputs and fake encounters against the marginalized people in Indian states before dubbing them as terrorists. New Delhi still has time to open her eyes and stabilize its economy and pave way for a new era of mutual trust and confidence between the neighbouring countries, in order to workout a joint defence of Indian Ocean. afshainafzal@yahoo.com