India has not fought wars over the past 40 years and as a result the importance of the Army has gone down, said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday, while at the same time stressing that he is not advocating war.
“I have written to many Chief Ministers [over defence matters]. Some have acted on it and at many places, it [response] has ended. The primary reason for this is that we have not been to war for 40-50 years. I don’t mean to say that we should go to war. I mean to say that without war the Army’s importance has diminished,” he said, speaking at a conference on border safety in Jaipur.
This, he said, has resulted in two generations of officers retiring without seeing a war but that doesn’t mean the Army should not command the respect it deserves.
“A country that fails to protect its Army cannot progress.” In the recent past several States had withdrawn permission to Army firing ranges severely impacting the training schedules.
Mr. Parrikar also said that soldiers were facing immense difficulties because people’s respect for the Army has “reduced during peacetime.”
He said “zero tolerance” to acts of terrorism is the only way to address issues related to national security and that is related to mind set. In this context he made a reference to the Army action on insurgent camps in Myanmar last week and observed, “A recent incident has changed the national security scenario and there appears to be a change in the mindset of people.”
