Rahul Gandhi with Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd)

NEW DELHI: The Congress has roped in Lt General D S Hooda (retd), who oversaw the cross-border “surgical strikes” in September 2016 as the Northern Army Command chief, to chair a task-force on national security and prepare a vision document for the party in the run-up to the impending Lok Sabha polls.

Even as military options for limited strikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir without going to war remain on the table for the government in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror strike, Congress president Rahul Gandhi met Lt-Gen Hooda on Thursday to institute the task-force with domain experts from different fields.

“I have no plans of joining the Congress or contesting elections. The Congress asked me if I could prepare a broad vision document on national security, with the tasks and challenges ahead. I agreed because it is something I would like to do … It falls within my expertise,” said Lt-Gen Hooda, talking to TOI.

Lt-Gen Hooda, who in the past has criticized the “needless politicization and over-hyping” of the “successful” surgical strikes conducted by Indian Para-Special Forces against four terror launch pads in PoK, hopes to submit the vision document in a month or so.

“The task-force will include some from the armed forces, diplomats for external security and police experts who have dealt with the Maoist insurgency. I am hopeful the vision paper will start a debate on what India’s national security strategy should be for the next 5-10 years,” said the senior officer, who retired after 40 years in uniform in November 2016.

Lt-Gen Hooda’s coming on board to assist Congress in preparing the vision document is being seen as a political coup and a fitting response to BJP’s ongoing efforts to show its rival party as having compromised national security over the years.

Congress insiders said the vision document on national security for the next five years will be readied and presented by the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. But it is as yet unclear whether the document will be presented separately or as a part of the Congress manifesto.

Lt-Gen Hooda, who had a reputation for being a no-nonsense professional soldier, incidentally, thinks India has to seriously consider the use of military options after the Pulwama terror attack because the diplomatic offensive against Pakistan has failed to deliver the goods. “We have to seriously start looking at some kinetic hard options. Diplomacy with Pakistan is not working, with China backing it to the hilt. One surgical strikes in three years is not going to change Pakistan’s attitude … India needs a consistent, long-term strategy, with options in the military sphere not being ruled out,” he said.

Read this report in Marathi

