'Dirty bomb bigger threat than war'

NEW DELHI: Rather than fullblown conventional wars with Pakistan or China, India at this point in time is faced more with unconventional threats like jihadi outfits getting hold of “dirty’ ’ nuclear bombs, crippling cyber-attacks and “hybrid forms of warfare’’.

This was the hard-nosed assessment of the Indian defence establishment after defence minister A K Antony inaugurated the Army and IAF commanders’ conferences here on Monday.

Army chief General V K Singh, in fact, was quite categorical that “the major concern’’ at the moment was the ongoing “attempts’’ by “nonstate actors’’ to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

This comes in the backdrop of continuing fears that the threat of jihadi outfits gaining access to enriched uranium, nuclear components or technical know-how to make “dirty’’ bombs — radiological dispersal devices combining radioactive material with suitable explosives – remains a clear and present danger in Pakistan, with or without official help.

There have been instances to underline this fear in the past. In August 2001, for instance , two senior scientists of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme were spotted hobnobbing with Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan.

General Singh, on his part, said though conventional conflicts were not on the horizon, the armed forces had to be ready to tackle “hybrids forms of warfare’’ , which basically entails state and nonstate actors joining hands to fight a common foe. This, of course, is also nothing new for India, targeted as it has been for long by the ISILashkar-e-Taiba combine.

Echoing similar views, Antony said terrorism emanating from across the border remained India’s primary concern. “We are taking adequate steps to ensure any spillover effect from any adverse development in Pakistan is successfully countered by our armed forces,’’ he said.

“Besides conventional threats, our armed forces have to reckon with non-conventional threats, cyber and information warfare. Though a conventional war is unlikely , there is need to maintain maximum level of operational preparedness to deal with such challenges,’’ he added.