Most militaries have a single challenge - that of dealing with external challenges to national security but in the Indian case, from 1990 - there has been an overlap between the internal and external drivers of security. This remains an unprecedented military victory in the annals of modern history but in keeping with India’s distinctive strategic culture and diffidence about matters military - the enormity of this event remains under-acknowledged. While challenges to territorial integrity continued - as for instance the 1965 war with Pakistan - the redeeming event for the Indian fauj was the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh. ![]() This proved to be a bitter learning experience for India’s political and military leadership and in the next decade, a remarkable transformation was effected. Professional advice related to strategic geography, the Chinese threat and inventory inadequacies, rendered by the military top brass, was disparaged by the political apex and the net result was the humiliation of October 1962. The then PM Nehru was dismissive of the military as an institution and opined that astute diplomacy and India’s innate integrity would enable it to deal with its external challenges. However, the more complex institutional challenge was one of civil-military unease. In the post-Independence decade, the military, which swore allegiance to the Constitution after India became a republic in January 1950, was faced with the task of consolidating itself by way of inventory and personnel with limited fiscal resources. The most consequential phase in the evolution of the Indian military was the first quarter century, the period from 1947 to 1972. The immediate challenge was the threat to Kashmir in October 1947 and the manner in which the Indian military - the army and the air force - rose to the occasion to prevent Pakistan from grabbing a crucial part of the composite state of Jammu and Kashmir is illustrative. The challenges that the Indian military had to overcome were two-fold - an institutional one, related to the politico-military orientation of free India led by PM Jawaharlal Nehru and the existential one in consolidating the territorial integrity of the nascent nation with limited material resources. Despite many constraints, tangible and intangible, the Indian fauj made a remarkable transmutation in its evolution from being a colonial military, where the army was the lead service in sustaining imperial rule, to becoming a professional, apolitical institution that would bear arms in the defence of a free nation and the normative values it espoused. Chief Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia on Sunday said the talks would take place in Turkey between March 28 and March 30.THE evolution of the Indian military or the fauj over the past 75 years is a saga of unwavering commitment to the protection of territorial integrity and sovereignty of a nascent nation that was shedding the oppressive colonial yoke. The Kremlin did, however, warn Russian media against reporting what Zelensky had told them, according to Reuters.ĭelegations from Moscow and Kyiv are scheduled to meet for a new round of peace negotiations in Turkey this week, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine progresses through its second month. This is the most important point.” The Ukrainian president spoke in Russian. That comment, however, appears to be a shift from Zelensky’s remarks to a group of Russian journalists earlier that day, when he said Ukraine would consider neutral status as part of a peace deal if such an agreement were assured by third parties and put to a referendum.ĭuring the call, Zelensky told Russian journalists “security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. “Our goal is obvious - peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible.” “Effective security guarantees for our state are mandatory,” he added. ![]() Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt,” Zelensky said in a televised address Sunday evening. ![]() “Our priorities in the negotiations are known. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is stressing the territorial integrity of his country as officials from Kyiv and Moscow prepare to meet for negotiations this week.
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