Pakistan Wants India To Enter Into War With Bangladesh: Is Indian Army Ready? CDS Chauhan Says...

Amid rising tensions with Bangladesh, India's Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has, however, maintained that India knows its adversaries and should not allow the level of deterrrence to be breached.

India and Bangladesh are staring at the lowest point in their ties, possibly, since 1971. While India is proceeding with caution, the free run given to radical Islamist leaders by the Yunus Government in Bangladesh has created an uncertain environment for the diplomatic ties. Amid the deteriorating situation, Intelligence agencies have learnt that there is a deliberate attempt by the ISI to provoke India into attacking Bangladesh, so that it garners international attention. The ISI-backed elements are provoking people, stating that India is protecting ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, while backing her party, the Awami League. 

According to an IANS report, there is a significant amount of anti-India sentiment that the ISI has managed to cultivate over the past year. However, the systematic persecution of the minority community, especially the Hindus, is a clear attempt to provoke India. In the last couple of days, disturbing visuals of a Hindu man being lynched have been in circulation.

ISI-backed handles are deliberately making these clips go viral in India so that it provokes the general public. The aim is to provoke the Indian public to such an extent that they put pressure on the government to act militarily against Bangladesh. The other intention is make India look like the aggressor in the international community.

However, India is well aware of Pakistan's plot as New Delhi has defined its role not as an aggressor, but as a defender of its integrity and sovereignty. Experts say that New Delhi has a lot on its plate to deal with, where the Bangladesh situation is concerned. India has maintained that it wants good ties with its neighbours. With the Awami League out of the picture owing to the electoral ban, India has been reaching out to the Bangladesh National Party (BNP). Any government that is friendly with India is detrimental to Pakistan, and this is something that it would try to avoid at any cost.

India's Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has, however, maintained that India knows its adversaries and should not allow the level of deterrrence to be breached.

"The question is, what kind of threats and challenges should India be prepared for? I think this should be based on two major facts. One is that both our adversaries are nuclear-weapon/nuclear-armed states. We should not allow that level of deterrence to be breached. We have territorial disputes with both of them. We should be prepared to fight short-duration, high-intensity conflicts to deter terrorism, something like Operation Sindoor," said Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan while speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. 

CDS Chauhan added that India should be prepared for a land-centric, long-duration conflict because India has land disputes with neighbours. He said that though India tries to avoid any conflict, it must exploit new domains and create asymmetry with our weaker adversary and yet not allow these asymmetries to be exploited by other nations.

"Warfare in the new domains is faster and smarter. It's also shorter in duration, and the tempo of that warfare is very, very high. Decisions are compressed in time, and the effects of that war are felt almost instantly. This was clearly visible in Operation Sindoor, a war which lasted only about four days, giving India a decisive victory. But all domains of warfare were used simultaneously with a great amount of tempo," he said.