Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said that the absence of a written national strategic policy does not imply that the country lacks a strategic policy. Speaking at the release of book “Crafting a New Indian Art of War,” Gen Chauhan contested the insistence on having a national security strategy in written format.

“When we talk about national security strategy, I believe it consists of policy, processes, and practices to succeed. In our country, probably all three are addressed. The only thing missing is a written policy. I don’t know why people insist on that,” Gen Chauhan said.

If we didn’t have a policy, we wouldn’t have succeeded as we did in revoking Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, he asserted.

Chauhan cited the “successful” combating of COVID-19 in a country of 1.4 billion people in support of his argument that India was not bereft of a comprehensive policy.

“If there was no strategy behind it, how did we achieve our goal? Even the Balakot airstrike and the Uri airstrike – if there was no strategy, how did we do it? So there is a strategy, but what is missing is probably a written document. And a written document actually doesn’t count,” he emphasised.

Citing the example of Israel, he said, “They (Israel) don’t have a written policy, but they have a policy and follow that policy.”