NEW DELHI: Chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday delivered a strong message on India’s approach to peace, power and preparedness. The CDS said that though “India is a peace-loving nation, it cannot be a pacifist”.“India has always stood on the side of peace. We are a peace-loving nation, but don’t get mistaken, we cannot be pacifists. I think peace without power is utopian. I like to state a Latin quote which translates, ‘if you want peace, prepare for war’,” he said, while speaking at the inaugural Tri-Services Seminar ‘Ran Samwad-2025’ at the Army War College in Mhow.

Calling Operation Sindoor a modern conflict, Chauhan said that the operation is still ongoing, “Operation Sindoor was a modern conflict from which we learned a number of lessons, and most of them are under implementation, some have been implemented. The operation is still on,” he said.Outlining what he called four essential trends shaping contemporary conflict, Chauhan first warned of an increased propensity among nations to use force, driven by the belief that short-duration conflicts can achieve political aims. “First, there is an increased propensity amongst nations and governments to use force, and this is happening because political objectives today can be achieved by short-duration conflicts,” the CDS said as quoted by ANI.Second, he argued that the traditional distinction between war and peace has blurred.“The second trend which I see is a lack of distinction between war and peace, this particular era, which we knew in the past of declared wars, I think that’s all over. Contemporary warfare today is a kind of continuum of five C’s- competition, crisis, confrontation, conflict and combat, between wars,” he explained.Third, he emphasised the role of people, recalling that past wars often saw soldiers and civilians sacrificed in pursuit of territory or ideology, whereas future wars would hinge on the population’s resilience and support.Finally, he addressed the changing ‘matrices of victory’. While earlier conflicts were measured by casualties and captured soldiers, he noted that modern victory is increasingly defined by the speed and tempo of operations and the precision of long-range strikes.“The fourth important trend I think we can debate is the matrices of victory and how we perceive victory… In the past, matrices of victory were probably defined by losses inflicted in terms of men and equipment. In 1971, we had 95,000 Pakistanis captured… But in today’s warfare, probably the new matrices of warfare or victory are the speed and tempo of operations, effects of long-range precision strikes,” he said.General Chauhan reflected on India’s cultural and historical traditions of balancing thought and force. “We have always spoken about ‘Shastra’ and ‘Shaastra’ in the same breath. They were actually the two blades of the same sword,” he remarked, citing examples from the Mahabharata where Arjuna, despite being a great warrior, needed Krishna’s guidance to secure victory.The CDS stressed the importance of intellectual depth in defence studies. “Serious research is needed on all dimensions of war connected to leadership, motivation, and technology. We need to be ‘atmanirbhar’ in ideas and practice,” he said.The ministry of defence had earlier described Ran Samwad as a platform to strengthen India’s strategic thinking and inter-service cooperation. The two-day seminar, curated by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, brings together military professionals, defence experts and industry leaders. Defence minister Rajnath Singh will deliver the plenary address on the concluding day.