“India doesn’t have extra-territorial ambitions”: Former Army chief MM Naravane

New Delhi [India]: Former India Army chief, General MM Naravane, on Saturday said the responsibility of ensuring national security was vested in every citizen.

Addressing a session on ‘National Security Perspectives’, organised by India International Centre in the national capital on July 28, the former Army chief, while underlining the security dimensions — both internal and external — said India does not have any “extra-territorial ambitions”.

On national security, General Naravane said, “When we talk about national security, we should focus on the internal security dimension. External security, of course, is of paramount importance.

The security of the country is the responsibility of each and every citizen of the country. Everyone has a role to play. National security is more than just external security, it has many dimensions.”

Apart from national security, the food, energy and health securities of the country were also of paramount importance.

“If you do not have a healthy population, where is the manpower for armed forces going to come from? So national security has to been seen and understood in a much wider context,” the former Army chief added.

Adding that India still doesn’t have a fully articulated National Security Strategy in place, General Naravane said, “We have made some progress on this front over the years. Our activities does reflect how we are looking at national security.”

He added that the country’s foreign policy “rests on two strong pillars”.

“One of them is that we have no extra-territorial ambitions. The other is that we do not seek to impose a way of life or will on anybody else. It is not the my way or the highway. I think these two factors also guide us in all we do as far as our national security is concerned,” Naravane said in reply to a query during the session.

To a question on securing the country’s northern borders where the country has been engaged in a protracted standoff with China, he said, “The regional and global environments have a role to play in our overall security. Any instability in any our neighbouring countries will impact our security.”

“More instablity on our borders will lead to a rise in transnational crimes like smuggling, drug trafficking and so on and so forth,” he added.