Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

A reassurance

Sir,__ Since Independence, strategic decisions and defence policy have continued to remain the exclusive domain of the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defence instead of the military services. Our bureaucracy is notorious for its belief in temporisation and putting off decisions even when national security is involved.

However, the public announcement of nuclear command structure by India will reassure us that the Pakistani nuclear blackmail will not be allowed to work. The time has come to have a well-thought-out and declared nuclear doctrine keeping in view the threat perception and security scenario in a nuclear environment. As a first step, the appointment of a CDS, thwarted by bureaucrats of the MOD in 1997 and recommended by the group of Ministers in 1999 in the wake of the Kargil conflict, can brook no further delay. The concept of a bureaucratic buffer between the professional soldier and political authority will be disastrous in case of a nuclear threat which calls for a photo-click decision by the political boss.

V.V. Singh,
New Delhi

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