The chief of army staff, General Bipin Rawat has asserted that the recent Pakistan-supported Sunjuwan terror attack where six soldiers were killed would be avenged. Speaking to a national newspaper, he said, “Pakistan thinks it is fighting a war that is paying them dividends but we have several options, including surgical strikes.”

General Rawat means business. With the defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman having already vowed to teach Pakistan a lesson for its ‘misadventure,’ the Indian Army would surely retaliate. The counter-response too would come, and the deadly cycle would continue with India losing trained soldiers and Pakistan losing low-cost, dispensable terrorists. This unending cycle of reprisals called tactics or battles is the job of junior military leaders, not generals, and certainly not the army chief.

Instead of micro-managing another surgical strike, General Rawat should be concerned with realisation of the political objective — compelling the Pakistan Army to end its proxy war so that bilateral talks could begin. For this to happen, the Pakistan Army should realise that its proxy war is not paying dividends and is dangerous if it escalates. The reason that is not happening is because the Indian Army itself has abdicated its doctrine, which states that the army chief and his army commanders are responsible for war, not battles.