AJK a ‘thorn in India’s flesh’: Indian air chief

Arup Raha rued New Delhi’s non-pragmatic approach to use air power

India’s Air Force chief on Thursday called Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) ‘a thorn in India’s flesh’ as he rued Indian reluctance to use air power which could have helped it wrest control of the valley.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha at an aerospace seminar in New Delhi said that India did not follow a “pragmatic approach” to security needs, Indian Express reported.

“Our foreign policy was enshrined in the charter of the UN, charter of the Non-Alignment Movement as well as Panchseel doctrine,” he said while referring to the 1971 Pakistan-India war.

“We have been governed by high ideals and we really did not follow a very pragmatic approach, to my mind, to security needs. To that extent, we did ignore the role of the military power to maintain conducive environment.”

He suggested that New Delhi was ‘reluctant’ to use military power, especially the air force, in deterring adversaries.

“And when a military solution was in sight, taking moral high ground, I think we went to UN for a peaceful solution to this problem,” Air Chief Marshal Raha said, adding, “The problem still continues. [AJK] remains a thorn in our flesh today.”

“In 1965 conflict, we did not use air power against East Pakistan because of political reasons despite Pakistani Air Force operating from East Pakistan attacking our air bases, infrastructure, aircraft on ground. We had severe setbacks but we never retaliated,” he rued.

The Indian air chief, though, threw caution to the wind suggesting that was no longer the case and today India is ready to use its air power.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2016.