Northern Command holds ‘strategic conclave’ to prepare military commanders for future challenges

JAMMU: Against the backdrop of targeted assassinations and the fragile security situation in Kashmir, the Army’s Northern Command organized a three-day brainstorming “Strategic Conclave” which discussed measures to deal with growing challenges.

Experts from defence, strategic and national studies shared their views on the salient aspects of “grey zone warfare” (very thin line between peace and conflict).

Speakers argued that Northern Command faces the unique challenge of “two and a half fronts” with the live phenomenon of gray zone warfare.

While the recently concluded ‘North Tech Symposium’ aimed to integrate niche technology into the armed forces under the rule of ‘Raksha Atmanirbharta’, the strategic conclave worked to strengthen the culture of strategic thinking and develop understanding of the joint “response mechanism” in the diplomatic, informational, military and economic (DIME) spheres through these deliberations.

Northern Command has yet to forge a force capable of solving the “grey zone conundrum” and its relationship to different levels of warfare.

Speaking on the occasion, Lt. Gen. Upendra Dwivedi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief AVSM, Northern Command, expressed his gratitude to the eminent speakers, for crafting their thoughts after detailed analysis.

He also thanked the speakers for their valuable recommendations on the “pan-national approach” to counter current and future threats.

The army commander said the conclave was intended to address issues of civil-military interdependence in decision-making, lines of effort encompassing the entire construction of DIME and interdisciplinary response to threats.

The army commander pointed out that the “grey zone war” is ongoing for the Northern Command in J&K and Ladakh in expl the gap between peace and war, also called “no war no peace”, and military commanders must discern threats through thinly veiled indicators.

He underlined the need to revisit technologically enabled “human resource management” to meet these future challenges.

The army commander told participants that the future holds a unique challenge for all of us; and strategic calculation, cooperation and understanding among all stakeholders should be the mantra to ensure inner calm and outer peace.

The unique event saw the participation of three former army commanders, Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retired), Lt. Gen. DS Hooda, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, bar at VSM ( retired), Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (retired)]three former corps commanders [Lieutenant General SA Hasnain, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, bar to VSM (Retired), Lieutenant General S L Narsimhan, PVSM, bar to AVSM, VSM (Retired), Lieutenant General Savneet Singh, YSM, SM, VSM (Retired)] and esteemed writers and senior scholars Nitin Gokhale, Jaydev Ranade, Claude Arpi and Vijay Gokhale (Ex Foreign Secy) and Senior Serving Officers—(KNO)