No military solution for disputes like Kashmir: PM

Indicating that there could be no military solution to disputes like the Kashmir issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said a lasting solution could only be arrived at through dialogue.

Asserting that the armed forces were always ready to deal with any challenge to national security, he said, "Equally, we have the wisdom and the courage to say that the only lasting solution to any political or bilateral dispute is one that is negotiated through dialogue and discussion, and is arrived at honourably and to the satisfaction of all."

Releasing the book 1965 War: The Inside Story by former Governor R D Pradhan, Dr Singh said, "There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that we are prepared and determined to deal with any threat to our national security in the appropriate manner. Our armed forces are always ready to deal with any such challenge."

Pradhan worked as private secretary under then Defence Minister Y B Chavan during the 22-day war and the book is mostly based on the minister's hand-written diaries, and analyses through these writings the attitude and behaviour of politicians and military officials during this period of crisis.

The prime minister said he too had worked under Chavan when he was the finance minister.

"I was stuck by the sagacity and wisdom of Chavan on the issue of India-Pakistan relations and the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Yashwantraoji took a determined and considered view that there could be no military solution to the Kashmir issue. He was convinced that any lasting solution has to be a politically negotiated one," Dr Singh said.

The prime minister released the book in the presence of Air Marshal Arjan Singh, Defence Minister A K Antony, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Service chiefs, several former chiefs and defence analysts K Subrahmanyam and Jasjit Singh.

Observing that Chavan had expressed the view 'in the thick of the battle' that lasting solutions could only be found through talks, Dr Singh said, "It shows a keen strategic mind at work. Fully in command of the battle of the day, yet aware of the long-term solution to the conflict at hand, Yashwantraoji was both a good tactical planner and a wise strategic thinker."

The prime minister said what came out in the book was the 'mature and balanced relationship' between the country's political and military leadership, which continues even today.

"All around us, and in much of the developing world, we see short-lived experiments in democracy snuffed out by soldiers in uniform," he said, adding, "We have good reasons to be proud of this inheritance of our freedom movement."

India stood as a 'shining example of a democracy with highly professional armed forces, working in a disciplined manner under the civilian leadership,' he noted.

Introducing his book, Pradhan referred to the recent controversy created over claims that India's 1965 war plans were sold to Pakistan and asserted 'there was no evidence to lend an iota of credence to that sensational claim.'

Arjan Singh, to whom Pradhan dedicated the book, said he, as then IAF chief, had told Chavan: 'We are in a great hurry.' Chavan, Pradhan said, asked Arjan Singh to launch air attacks without even informing then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The attacks were launched within 20 minutes.