India ready to deal with any threat: PM

By IANS

New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday asserted that India was "prepared and determined" to deal with any threat to national security but had the wisdom and courage to resolve political or bilateral disputes "through dialogue and discussion".


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"Our armed forces are always ready to deal with any challenge. Equally, we have the wisdom and the courage to say that the only lasting solution to any political or bilateral dispute is one that is negotiated through dialogue and discussion," he said.

He was releasing a book by former bureaucrat R.D. Pradhan, "1965 War – Inside Story", based on the diary notings of late defence minister Y.B. Chavan on the India-Pakistan war.

Paying tributes to Chavan, the prime minister said the book revealed the sagacity and wisdom of the man who even in the thick of the 1965 war had noted in his diary the "determined and considered view that there could be no military solution to the Kashmir issue".

He said this view was expressed by Chavan "in the thick of the battle. It shows a keen strategic mind at work. Fully in command of the battle of the day, yet aware of the long- term solution to the conflict at hand".

The function at the prime minister's residence was attended by a galaxy of distinguished former defence officers and civil servants including former chiefs of air staff Air Marshal S.P. Tyagi and Air Marshal S.Y. Tipnis, Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and noted defence analysts Air Commodore (Retd) Jasjit Singh and K. Subrahmanyam.

Manmohan Singh said the book revealed the mature and balanced relationship between the political and military leadership, which is significant as "all around us, and in much of the developing world, we see shortlived experiments in democracy snuffed out by soldiers in uniform".

Elaborating further, he said India "stands as a shining example of a democracy with highly professional armed forces, working in a disciplined manner under the civilian leadership".

Paying tributes to Chavan, Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh said: "He galvanized the defence forces and the country (as) after the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict there was depression in the country and the armed forces."

Talking about the book, Pradhan said Chavan's diary was a unique contribution to history – seen in the context that Indian politicians rarely write memoirs.

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