Pakistan can never get Kashmir, says war veteran

‘The country which lost two wars is left with just terrorism to lash out against India’

November 21, 2016 12:00 am | Updated December 02, 2016 04:48 pm IST - Hyderabad

History lesson:Former IAS officer K. Padmanabhaiah; Perala Shekhar Rao, vice-chairman, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan; Prafulla Ketkar, editor of Organiser, New Delhi; and war veteran Major General Dhruv C. Kotoch at a seminar on the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, in Hyderabad on Sunday.— Photo: G. RamakrishnaG_RAMAKRISHNA

History lesson:Former IAS officer K. Padmanabhaiah; Perala Shekhar Rao, vice-chairman, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan; Prafulla Ketkar, editor of Organiser, New Delhi; and war veteran Major General Dhruv C. Kotoch at a seminar on the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, in Hyderabad on Sunday.— Photo: G. RamakrishnaG_RAMAKRISHNA

: Pakistan cannot get even an inch of Kashmiri land, said Major General Dhruv C. Katoch, a war veteran and former director of Centre for Land Warfare Studies, here on Sunday. In 1965, when India won the war, Pakistan’s hope of getting Kashmir was gone, he added speaking from experience and research.

Maj. Katoch was speaking at a seminar organised in the city on 1965 and 1971 wars and how they shaped India’s security architecture. “Pakistan can never win a war against India. The neighbouring country realised this way back in 1965,” he said. Pakistan has been resorting to proxy war with India ever since its defeat in the 1971 war. The country which lost face in two wars is left with just terrorism to lash out against India.

War veterans Group Captain Dilipkumar Dass, Wing Commander Farokh Jehangir Mehta, Wing Commander Rajendra Singh Wahir, Captain Nagulapalli Narsing Raoji, Brigadier Madhurantakam Ravindranath, Rea Admiral Keki Pestonji, Lt Col. Virendra Kumar Kalia, and Ari Commodre Par Kumarji participated in the seminar. They had fought in the wars.

The speakers at the seminar said that India should not hold talks with Pakistan as the country has been indulging in cross-border terrorism. Major. Katoch said, however, that the intelligence networks should provide advance inputs on Pakistan’s designs. “There is a need to strengthen the network,” he said adding that since Independence India has been neglecting its arms production. Former union home secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, who presided over the seminar, said that it was eight and not two wars that Pakistan imposed on us. The wars included proxy wars like militancy in Punjab, unrest in Kashmir and importing terror.

Organizer weekly’s editor Prafulla Ketkar said that India is failing in countering Pakistan’s propaganda on various issues. He questioned the rationality behind discussing Kashmir issue with Pakistan, when the land is legally part of India.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.