New Delhi, October 15: Viewing Pakistan and China to be “major irritants” to India’s security, Army Chief General V K Singh today said the nation should be ready with “substantial” conventional war capability in a nuclear backdrop.
Singh, who inaugurated an Army seminar here, said the threats from Pakistan was caused by its governance problems and support to terror outfits, while the challenge from China was in the form of its military capabilities.
However, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, who was asked about Singh’s comments at another function, said he was not willing to be drawn into the debate on which country was the biggest threat to India’s security.
Naik said the country’s military modernisation should be capability-specific and not adversary-specific, lest it led to an arms race in the region.
“We have two major irritants.
–Agencies