Don’t leave Army out of decision-making: Sinha

Hyderabad: Former J&K and Assam Governor Lt Gen. (Retd) S.K. Sinha on Sunday said that the Indian government should give importance to the opinion of the Army while  taking a decision on foreign policies. Expressing concern over marginalisation of the defence forces in decision-making process, he said there should not be a disparity in the country’s foreign and defence policy.

“We have learnt a lot from established models of co-ordination between military and civilian administration in the US, UK, France and Germany. Political establishment must not be moved by narrow and short-term political gains but must go by  long-term national interests,” said  Lt Gen. (retd) Sinha, who is also a columnist for Deccan Chronicle.

“India’s denial to Sri Lanka’s military training facilitated the Pakistan army to readily offer the same. Now, due to the strain in India-Sri Lankan ties, the Indian corporate sector working in Sri Lanka is suffering while the Chinese corporate sector is prospering,” he said.

Talking about Pakistan, Lt Gen. (retd) Sinha said, “The origin and history of  Pakistan is an uncompromising hostility towards India. We talk of secularism while they are wedded to religious fundamentalism. Now, they have a low intensity war strategy and are working on designs to bleed India to death.”  He added that India must improve ties with Afghanistan.

He also said that the Centre must solve the Naxal problem within a time frame of 4-5 years with a multipronged approach. “Our security position would have been stronger had Nehru accepted Nepal king Tribhuvan’s offer to merge Nepal with India. Indira was realistic in allowing Sikkim to become a state of India. She shared strategic vision with Field Marshal Manekshaw in the 1971 war,” he said.