What ‘centric’ India is?

[Shardul.....the lion]

You can take regional newspaper in regional languages.
You will find who India centric is?

Indians mostly talk about three things politicians, cricket and bollywood.
Dont go by what is written in national newspaper/ Not a single election till now as been fought on pakistan or china.

All elections have been on domestic issues.

Only peoples who are interested in all these international politics talk about china and pakistan. Rest all are too much consumed by their daily needs.

 

[OrionHunter]

Don't forget you were hyphenated to Pakistan for most of your history.

Not anymore. We are now hyphenated to China. It therefore follows that we're now more China-centric than Pakistan centric!

Now that clown who wrote that letter knows squat about what he's talking about! 'Centric' is all about threat perception. Threat Perception = Capability + Intention. And therefore this equation translates to China being a greater threat than Pakistan. Thus India is more 'China centric' than 'Pakistan centric'. Period!

As to why India is conducting Exercises close to the border is subjective. What does 'close' mean? A corps level exercise with more than 60,000 troops including armored and Mechanized formations would need an area of at least 100x200km in which to operate. So how many sq kms does that come to? Where is the space?

In addition, Pakistan and India always inform each other of any Exercises being conducted by them 'near' the borders well in advance. So there's nothing to be alarmed about. Though India has now become more 'China centric' it cannot put its guard down where Pakistan is concerned. The threat remains where military strategy is concerned.

Cheers!

 

[pmukherjee]

NOTE:- Although Pakistan's India obsession is widely known but this letter from a Pakistani national to DAWN newspaper reminds me former ISI chief Hamid Gul.

What ‘centric’ India is?

THIS is apropos of the picture on Dawn’s back page (Dec 6). It shows an Indian tank, which is one of the many others, taking part in army manoeuvres near Pakistan’s borders. The T-90 tank also carried the Indian president.

The western media and leaders accuse Pakistan of being India-centric. Could anybody tell me what ‘centric’ India is?

If the purpose of the exercise was manoeuvres in the desert, then was it necessary to hold the exercise near Pakistan’s border?

Rajasthan is one of India’s largest provinces, and it is bigger than Balochistan.

The Indian army could have held a ‘desert conditions’ exercise 150 to 200 miles to the east, and it would still be the Rajasthan desert. But the Indian military high command chose to carry out an exercise near Pakistan’s border to pressure Pakistan at a
time when 150,000 of our troops are bogged down in the tribal area. In the 1980s also India carried out a major exercise ‘Brasstacks’ near Pakistan’s border.

Let us also recall that India conducted its nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998 near Pakistan’s border.

The tests could have been carried out elsewhere. But they were conducted near Pakistan’s border both times. The western media and Pakistan’s own American friends, who accuse Pakistan of being India-centric, hesitate to give an adjective to Indian attitudes.

At any given time 80 per cent of India’s defence establishment is poised for an attack on Pakistan. Its borders along with China are thinly manned, and India has written off Aksai-China and doesn’t even take up the issue with Beijing.

If this is not Pakistan-centric policy, what else is it? China-centric? Bangladesh-centric? Nepal-centric? Sri-Lanka-centric?

Could any western lovers of India tell us what other ‘centric’ India is? The Indian attitude and the western support for it have left Pakistan with no option but to ready its defences against an Indian attack anytime.

RIZWAN YASSIN
Karachi

What

The reason why IA conducts its major annual training exercises in Pokhran is that that is the only major notified range area available to the IA where large scale exercises involving troops, artillery, armoured vehicles and aircraft including live firing can be carried out. 150 - 200 KMs to the east? The exercise area can not be shifted even 20 KMs to the east as tanks can't move in a tactical manner inside heavily congested built up area, also, the civil administration will never permit the IA to conduct exercises in inhabited areas. As it is the IA pays large amounts by way of compensation for tanks, APCs and troop carriers churning up cultivated fields and damaging roads and bridges en route to the exercise area every year. It just so happens that the most thinly populated desert areas in India are located near the Pakistan border.