One reason for the Kargil fiasco is the Indian Government's assumption over the last two decades that they have to deal only with anti-insurgency operations and that there is no likelihood of a war with Pakistan and China. This `no war syndrome' led to the neglect of the armed forces.

In the Army, the infantry which bears the major brunt of any war in the mountains, was not issued with the latest small arms. Better signal equipment and protective life jackets too were issued to only a few personnel. The government and people were not really concerned about the rising casualties. For them, they were mere statistics who appeared regularly in newspaper columns.

It is not surprising that Pakistan has dared to occupy Indian territory in spite of being only one-fifth of our size and having an Army less than half of India's. By occupying Indian territory on our side of the LoC, instead of infiltrating terrorists, it is trying to achieve its twin motives of internationalising the J&K problem and cutting off the road link to Ladakh.

The media, both print and electronic, are the only agency doing great service to the nation by highlighting the extremely difficult conditions under which our soldiers are fighting in the high altitude as well as praising their sacrifices by displaying their photographs, etc. It is truly acting as a ``Force Multiplier'' both for the military as well as the civil population and is instrumental in raising the morale of the soldiers on the front. The media has also helped in highlighting the problems of the widows and the families and as a result, various states have announced special awards for the widows.

But what we really need is thorough soul-searching. Though our soldiers and officers are the best in the world, they are not being taught the importance of violence in achieving victory and inflicting maximum loss on the enemy. They are taught that there are no runners up in war and so they must win.

The lesson of violence is very important considering that our soldiers come from villages where they grow up on lessons advocating virtues like tolerance, kindness and compassion. Young Army officers too come from colleges and universities where the intellectuals seldom talk of security problems and necessity of violence to look after the interests of the country.

But even a change in training strategy won't make any difference until our leaders start giving more importance to the Army. They must remember the advice given by Chanakya in his well-known treatise `Arth Shastra' that ``In order to develop its country, the king should maintain a strong army so that nobody can dare to attack its territory''.

I would like to make the following suggestions: