Panchkula, December 16 Military veterans and prominent citizens of the tricity attended the lecture, “Military Force and Diplomacy in Managing India’s External Security”, by Dr TCA Raghavan, India’s former High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore, at Panchkula, today. The Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), Panchkula, had organised the event. It was discussed during the lecture that the military and diplomacy were the two essential tools in the armour of any state for safeguarding nation against external threats. Ideally, the military and diplomacy must be applied in concert. Raghvan said maintaining relationship among all neighbouring countries was difficult and if they looked at the India-Pakistan relationship from the South Korean point of view, then it was all right though not great. He added that just like Iran couldn't insulate itself from Syria, whatever was happening in Pakistan was important to them. Raghvan further said, “There is no perfect solution to the India-Pakistan problem. We will have to live with it.” According to Brig Kiran Krishan (retd), convenor of the IESM, no institutional mechanism existed for the military men and diplomats, sitting together and setting viable national security aims together. “Both appear to be working in silos. India deserves better,” he said. Military Veterans pointed out that India was found wanting in diplomacy and flexing military muscle without adequate understanding in 1962 and lost its standing in the world. In 1971, the Indian leadership and diplomats were nimble in the run up to the December 1971 war and were able to convince the world of the Pakistan’s duplicity and atrocities in the then East Pakistan.

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