ABSTRACT
The probability of conventional conflict between states or groups of states has been steadily declining while, at the same time, sub-conventional conflict, marked most often by hybrid or asymmetric warfare, is gaining prominence. Future conventional conflict on the Indian Sub-continent will in all likelihood flow out of India’s unresolved territorial and boundary dispute with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir and with China along the unsettled border with Tibet. While the object of maintaining military forces will be to deter war, if war is thrust on India, the military aim will be to fight and win. The nuclear-missiles-military hardware nexus between China and Pakistan and the ‘two front’ scenario that the collusion is likely to represent, will pose a major challenge to India’s policy planners.
