Not War, Not Peace? Quotes

“Unfortunately, this former officer intoned, ‘Our political system will not allow this. There is a phobia that air power is escalatory. This should have changed after Kargil.”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism

“We have war-gamed this’, a recently retired high-level Pakistani military strategist explained in a late-2013 interview. ‘Air strikes are an option India has in response to something like Mumbai. But it cannot be separated. Indian air strikes will be answered by Pakistan. And there will be ground forces to back it up. So, the risk of escalation is there. You can separate air strikes from a ground war by three or four days but not longer.”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism

“As discussed further below, in all scenarios of limited, precise counter-strikes, Indian decision makers would have to prepare for Pakistani responses. India would have to mobilize elements of its Army and other services to deter and/or blunt reprisals by Pakistani forces. This mobilization would add time between the initial terrorist attack on India and even limited, punitive Indian air strikes on Pakistan. India’s mobilization also would warn Pakistan, attenuating the element of surprise.”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism

“As a foreign policy advisor to the BJP put it in an April 2014 interview, ‘India must react if there is another Mumbai-like attack. The only option is to do some sort of surgical strike in POK [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]. This is territory that is legally disputed, that both sides acknowledge is disputed.’7”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism

“Since 1990, at least four high-level commissions have been tasked to assess the state’s national security apparatus and recommend reforms. Arun Singh, the state minister for defence in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, led a Committee on Defence Expenditure in 1990. K. Subrahmanyam chaired the Kargil Review Committee in 2000. This was followed by a Group of Ministers Task Force on Defence Management in 2001, also led by Arun Singh, who was then an advisor to the Vajpayee government. In 2011, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government created a commission to review national security, chaired by Naresh Chandra, a former cabinet secretary.”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism

“Thus, in Raja Mohan’s words, the MoD ‘has created no institutional capacity within the ministry to engage foreign defence establishments’.”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism

“As a knowledgeable observer explains, ‘protocol dictates that a civilian secretary in the MoD outranks any military officer, so in meetings a parade of secretaries who may have little expertise or competence enters the room before the service chiefs. This symbolism rankles.”
― George Perkovich, Not War, Not Peace?: Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism