China and Pakistan… What is India’s strategy for a two-front war?

excessive dependence on Russia

The wall of India’s security is completely dependent on Russia and out of the weapons stock with the Indian Army, about 60 percent of the weapons are purchased from Russia. Along with this, work is also going on on the submarine project between Russia and India. Preet Malik has written in his article, the reality before India is that India has two such neighboring countries in the form of China and Pakistan, both of which are a threat to India’s security and the way Pakistan is in economic and strategic ways. Since then it has become dependent on China and the way China has controlled the government of Pakistan and the policies of Pakistan and the way both the countries have presented themselves as ‘all-weather partners’, has imposed on India. The danger has increased manifold.

Russia’s dependence on China increased

Apart from Pakistan, the way Russia’s dependence on China has increased, it is also going to increase the concern for India. Especially after the attack on Ukraine, the way Europe, America and allies have isolated Russia, it has completely made Russia a ‘little brother’ of China, so now India is facing a strategic dilemma. It has been that it has to find an immediate solution and India will have to move towards finding a permanent as well as a long-term solution. At the same time, it is important to recognize that the close defense and political understanding that developed between democratic India and the authoritarian communist state of the then Soviet Union was due to the Cold War and the close defense and security ties between Washington and Islamabad. Pakistan had established a security threat to India from its creation, so at that time India took the help of Russia even after remaining non-aligned, but now the situation has completely changed. Relations between China and Pakistan have deteriorated to a historical level and Russia is now about to become an economically ill country.

How did Russia become an alternative to India?

At the time of independence and for a few years after that, India was dependent on the United Kingdom on the matter of arms, but when there were several defense agreements between Pakistan and the US and India’s relations with the US became quite complicated, India raised its security challenges. To reduce increased friendship with Russia. New Delhi turned to Moscow for equipment and technology to enhance its defense capabilities. At the same time, Russia not only helped India with technology, but Russia established many industrial plants in India and Russia has contributed a lot in the development of today’s India. At the same time, when China occupied Tibet in the year 1950 and annexed the Aksai Chin sector of Ladakh’s border with Tibet, it became clear what China’s plans were going to be.

China’s ‘Operation Red Fort’

After the occupation of Tibet, the Army Commander of the Eastern Command of the Chinese Army, Lt Gen Thorat, conducted an important military exercise with the word ‘Red Fort’, which not only underlined the fact, but also became a threat, That after consolidating its hold on Tibet, China would attack India. At the same time, after Operation Red Fort, it was clear that India should immediately start preparing for war and the lack of equipment should be given immediate attention through which China could be countered. But, the then Indian Defense Minister B.L. Describing this strategy of China as useless, Kaul threw it in the garbage heap. The loss that India suffered, both military and political, was the result of China’s neglect of well-crafted tactics after the 1962 defeat.

Now the dragon is challenging again

Standing at India’s doorstep, the dragon is once again posing a challenge to India and an increasingly hostile and aggressive China on its borders with Tibet. China is expanding its moves and encroaching on Indian territory by stepping across the LAC. In the process it has turned aggressive in the Ladakh sector where the face-off between the Chinese and Indian armed forces is still going on. It is a China that sees itself as a player in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and now it has been decided that this threat named China is not going to go away.

So did India change strategy with Russia?

The current situation is that China and Russia have had very strong relations and under the circumstances, it is not possible for Russia to move away from China. At the same time, China imports not only equipment from Russia, but also important technologies, which can be further researched. Furthermore, as Russia’s China-China economic and strategic relationship progresses, India can no longer rely solely on Russia in terms of promised technology transfer, timely supply of critical parts, especially if India Another war-like situation is imposed. Therefore, it is directly a big challenge to India’s defense capability and it cannot be ruled out that Russia should not become completely neutral now when the tension between China and India increases. At the same time, many experts also claim that as Russia’s dependence on China increases, it can also pressure Russia not to help India in the future.

Russian weapons failure in Ukraine

The armies of both countries are suffering heavy losses in the war in Ukraine, but as the war drags on, and the way Ukrainian weapons are being dismantled, it has started increasing India’s concerns. It is seen in the war, that Russian tanks are being destroyed very easily through America’s Javelin missiles, then the question arises that the Indian Army also has plenty of Russian weapons. So will the destruction of Russian weapons like carrot-radish for India surrounded by enemy countries like China and Pakistan… is there nothing to worry about? The manner in which Ukraine, which is considered very weak compared to Russia, has given water to the Russian army, it has raised the ears of Indian defense experts, because India has so far bought weapons worth about $ 70 billion from Russia. India has signed a deal with Russia only last year to buy An-203 assault rifle with Russian arms company and this agreement between the two countries is of 5 thousand crores. The Russian company has contracted to manufacture 70 thousand rifles by setting up a factory in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Preparing for a two-front battle

What is clear in all this is that India has to be fully prepared to face the double threat posed by the Sino-Pak alliance. Former Ambassador Preet Malik believes that India should now follow a reactive response policy and work swiftly on a long-term agenda. According to Preet Malik, strategically, quad developments between India, USA, Japan and Australia are a welcome thing and should be followed without hesitation, while for technology transfer with France, Germany and Israel The lines must be clearly established. The UK will always follow the lead taken by Washington in such matters, so taking into account these factors, the United Kingdom should also be involved. He said that strategically, the doors should be kept open for Russia and they should be encouraged to see India as a major partner, as keeping Russia completely in the Chinese side is not in India’s strategic interest. .