New Delhi [India], April 30 : Defence Experts weighed in on India's new diplomatic approach with Pakistan, backing Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's message "bhay bin hoye na preet", underlining the necessity to maintain the "position of strength" and to "instil fear", dropping the strategy to expect friendly relations.
In a conversation during ANI's National Security Summit 2.0, Tilak Devasher, Former Member of the NSA advisory board, noted India's previous attempt at "goodwill" with Pakistan has been interpreted as "weakness."
"I took it as a strength that you can only be friends if you are sure about yourself, sure about your position, and you speak from a position of strength. I think what he (Rajnath Singh) was trying to say, what I got, the sense that you have to be strong and powerful," he said.
"You keep them under check, keep them, talk to them from strength, don't show any weakness. Pakis will not understand goodwill. They think it's a weakness," he added.
Observer Research Foundation Senior Fellow Sushant Sareen also backed the statement, adding the necessity to instil fear and pressure them to bring them under control. He criticised the previous efforts of acting as a "nice guy" to cultivate friendship.
"I think fear works best. If people or neighbours are afraid of you, of how much damage you can cause to them, how much harm you can do to them, how much pressure you can bring them under, nothing works like that. All this nonsense about friendship, goodwill, doesn't work," Sushant Sareen said.
"Our problem has been, and I blame a lot of Indian bureaucracy and the culture of the Indian government, that we must always be nice to people. We must cultivate friendship. You know, we must be seen as the nice guys. Listen, nice guys finish last. Right?" he said.
Sareen pushed to act as a "big guy" who knows how to get Pakistan in line and drop the idea of friendship and deal with them with "disdain"
"Don't be the nice guy. Be the big guy. I think you have to keep piling up the pressure. You have to hurt them wherever you can hurt them. Don't give any quarter to them. And stop this nonsense of Wasim bhai aaye the aur main Akram bhai se milne gaya. They are not your bhai. Just drop the idea. That's nonsense. So, deal with them with disdain," he said.
Rajnath Singh, addressing theNational Security Summit 2.0, noted that a powerful deterrence is essential for peace and stability in international relations.
Giving the mantra of "Bhay bin hoye na preet" (There can be no love without fear), Singh said, "Operation Sindoor was a concrete manifestation of deterrence. I recall only one line about deterrence: "Bhay bin hoye na preet," meaning there can be no love without fear. This is the essence of deterrence. The same holds true in international relations. A powerful deterrence is essential for peace and stability."
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