Author: Pravin Sawhney
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 458
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761996133
Description
This is an engaging and provocative book. It challenges the conventional wisdom about Indian security policy; the nature of threats facing New Delhi; the appropriateness of India's traditional strategies; and the value of India's nuclear capabilities.
This is an engaging and provocative book. It challenges the conventional wisdom about Indian security policy; the nature of threats facing New Delhi; the appropriateness of India's traditional strategies; and the value of India's nuclear capabilities. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with Sawhney's arguments, they ought to help clarify the issues that have been vigorously debated in this country over the past decade. Both the specialist and the casual reader will profit from reading this work.
—Ashley J. Tellis, Senior Policy Analyst, Rand, Washington, D.C.
• China is not a military threat to India
• The army has frustrated Pakistan's proxy war in Kashmir
• Nuclear tests have enhanced India's security
• South Asia is a nuclear flashpoint
There are only four of the ten popular 'myths' surrounding India's national security that the author systematically shatters in this unusual, topical and forcefully argued book.
The author maintains that there is a vast separation between how things are and what they are thought to be, between the military and defense policy making, between defense analysts and the ground realities. This book constitutes the author's "search" for the ground realities.
The book is divided into five parts. Each of them has two chapters dealing with a particular subject. The first part covers the whole gamut of India-China relations. China is, the author warns, a real and immediate military threat. He argues that, by signing the 1993 Peace and Tranquility Treaty, India has walked into China's trap, and how, by accepting that the MacMohan line does not exist, it has opened the way for China to gradually nibble away at India territory.
Part two deals with Kashmir. The author debunks India's long-head belief that the Simla Agreement can resolve the problems between India and Pakistan. Pravin Sawhney also looks at the current situation in Kashmir, especially the role of the Taliban cadres.
The third part considers the likelihood of an all-out conventional war between India and Pakistan, while the next part covers the two limited wars between them-the ongoing Siachen war and the Kargil war. The last section addresses two questions pertaining to the role of nuclear weapons: are they facilitators of confidence-building measures with Pakistan; and do they enhance India's security?
The book ends with a chapter entitled 'The Bottomline'. This is not crystal-gazing, nor is it pontification. Rather, it speaks holistically about what the individual chapters imply for India's defense makeover.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
INDIA-CHINA RELATIONS
Myth One
China is Not a Military Threat to India
Myth Two
India Matches China in Defence Planning
KASHMIR TANGLE
Myth Three
The Simla Agreement can Resolve the Kashmir Issue
Myth Four
The Army has Frustrated Pakistan's Proxy War in Kashmir
NUCLEAR AND CONVENTIONAL WAR PARADIGM
Myth Five
South Asia is a Nuclear Flashpoint
Myth Six
India and Pakistan are Locked in a Missile Race
LIMITED WARS
Myth Seven
India has Scored over Pakistan by Occupying Siachen
Myth Eight
India Won a Decisive Victory in Kargil
STRATEGIC AUTONOMY
Myth Nine
Nuclear Deterrence has Facilitated Confidence-building Measures
Myth Ten
Nuclear Tests have enhanced India's Security
THE BOTTOMLINE
About the Author