Operational preparedness: India plans war games near Pakistan border
The drill will be carried out in Rajasthan state.
NEW DELHI:
The Indian military is set to conduct one of its largest mock war drills, involving 20,000 troops, close to the border with rival Pakistan, an official said on Monday.
The exercise, codenamed Shoorveer or Brave Warrior which will also involve 200 Russian-made tanks, is due to begin in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan next month, army spokesman Colonel Jagdeep Dahiya told AFP.
“The exercise will be one of the largest manoeuvres conducted so far,” he claimed, adding that the latest warplanes would be factored into the drills, which are scheduled to end in May.
In a separate statement, the military said tanks, frontline combat vehicles, artillery, helicopters, fighter jets, drones, air-defence weapons and military radars would be part of the games.
Another military source said the event would be held less than 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the highly militarised border with Pakistan, with which India has fought three wars since independence 1947.
Dahiya dismissed fears the exercise - to be conducted by an elite military corps raised only for cross-border assault – would crank up tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad. “We do inform Pakistan in advance whenever such large-scale exercises are conducted by us,” the colonel claimed.
New Delhi froze peace talks started in 2004 with Islamabad, following the Mumbai attacks in 2008 by gunmen India claims came from Pakistan. The slow-moving peace dialogues resumed early last year with cross visits by officials from both nations.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2012.
The Indian military is set to conduct one of its largest mock war drills, involving 20,000 troops, close to the border with rival Pakistan, an official said on Monday.
The exercise, codenamed Shoorveer or Brave Warrior which will also involve 200 Russian-made tanks, is due to begin in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan next month, army spokesman Colonel Jagdeep Dahiya told AFP.
“The exercise will be one of the largest manoeuvres conducted so far,” he claimed, adding that the latest warplanes would be factored into the drills, which are scheduled to end in May.
In a separate statement, the military said tanks, frontline combat vehicles, artillery, helicopters, fighter jets, drones, air-defence weapons and military radars would be part of the games.
Another military source said the event would be held less than 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the highly militarised border with Pakistan, with which India has fought three wars since independence 1947.
Dahiya dismissed fears the exercise - to be conducted by an elite military corps raised only for cross-border assault – would crank up tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad. “We do inform Pakistan in advance whenever such large-scale exercises are conducted by us,” the colonel claimed.
New Delhi froze peace talks started in 2004 with Islamabad, following the Mumbai attacks in 2008 by gunmen India claims came from Pakistan. The slow-moving peace dialogues resumed early last year with cross visits by officials from both nations.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2012.