"To be prepared for war is a passage to peace:" Vice President Dhankhar

NEW DELHI: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said that peace is not merely an option but the sole path, as the disruption of peace leads to human suffering and global challenges.

The Vice President, while addressing the Chanakya Defence Dialogue-2023 at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi, said that there is a need to seek peace at all costs - through ideation, advocacy, outreach, persuasion and dialogue - as also through strength.

"Peace is not an option. It is the only way. Its disruption leads to human misery and global challenges. There is a need to seek peace at all costs - through ideation, advocacy, outreach, persuasion and dialogue - as also through strength," Dhankhar said.

However, he further said that peace is well secured from a position of strength.

"To be prepared for war is a passage to peace," Dhankhar said, adding that the emergence of the country as a leading global economy coupled with its phenomenal growth is a stabilising factor for global peace and harmony. Strength does matter and the strength of a nation is the most impactful defence and deterrent, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar said while stating that one needs to be possessed with strength to be relevant and to secure proper global order.

Highlighting the emergence of deep technologies like AI, robotics, quantum, semi-conductors, biotech, drones and hypersonics have re-written the very character of war, the Vice-President stressed that "Prowess and mastery of these domains will determine the strategic haves and have-nots of the future".

Referring to India as the 'Karmabhoomi' of some of the finest strategic minds and spiritual thinkers, Dhankhar noted that 'India is singularly gifted with a civilisational ethos of thousands of years'.

In line with the wisdom of Acharya Chanakya, who emphasized the significance of both defending the nation and nurturing its culture through arms and scriptures, the Vice-President highlighted the enduring relevance of these words in our modern context and the "strength to be relevant and to secure proper global order" he added.

Speaking about the ongoing crises in Ukraine and West Asia, he also expressed concerns that, despite globalization and economic interdependencies, conflicts endure. The skill of nations in converting economic surpluses into hard power is gaining importance. Therefore, Dhankhar stressed on the urgent need to explore innovative approaches to strengthen deterrence and revitalize diplomacy for more effective conflict resolution.

The Vice President noted that "National Security today is an aggregation of myriad attributes and capacities - the military is just one part of the pie".

Dhankhar emphasized on the need of "diverse pieces must all come together to create a robust power dynamic" and finding resolutions that can fit in the present environment.

Army Chief General Manoj Pande noted that not only is the Cold War peace dividend "dwindling", but the world seems to be fracturing in myriad ways while terming India a 'bright spot'.