Rawat's comments came about 10 days after India and China ended a 73-day military stand-off at Doklam near Sikkim
It's a myth that nuclear-armed democracies will not to go to war, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday, warning of a two-front war with China and Pakistan.
Referring to China, he said, "flexing of muscles" has started and "salami slicing" will gradually turn to taking over territory, testing our limits of threshold. "Situation could gradually emerge into a conflict," he said. He also warned that Pakistan could take advantage of the situation on the Chinese frontier. "We have to be prepared in the North and the West."
"Nuclear powers don't go to war, and that nuclear weapons are a deterrence... yes they are but to say they can deter war in our context may not be true," Rawat said, referring to the two "adversaries — nuclear powers China and Pakistan."
Rawat's comments came about 10 days after India and China ended a 73-day military stand-off at Doklam near Sikkim. The stand-off ended ahead of Prime Minster Narendra Modi's visit to China for the BRICS Summit.
Rawat said there is no scope for reconciliation with Pakistan as people there have been made to believe through propaganda that India is all out to break their nation into pieces. He said that with the continued "proxy war", there is scope for conflict. "When we launch into battle is difficult to predict."
Rawat was speaking at a seminar organised by the Centre of Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in the Capital on the topic of 'Future Contours and Trends in Warfare'.
He also pointed out that during the stand-off there was psychological and legal warfare by China, referring to the high-pitched and aggressive rhetoric by their government and media. He asserted the notion that building defence forces can lead to achieving a credible deterrence to war can be true theoretically but practically the nation needs to be prepared for every situation.
"When you start believing that there will be no war military suffers," he said.
He said that during war it's not just the Armies that have to fight but a nation goes to war with another. "A nation has to be prepared, and not just the military," he added.
He also touched upon the "fervour and frenzy" created by public opinion and the media that could lead to war.
He called for integration of the three forces in the wake of the emerging threats to take on the adversaries.
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