'NCTC will be more in domain of home ministry'

PUNE: General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, Lt General A K Singh on Tuesday said that the Union government's proposal to set up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) will be "more in the domain of the ministry of home."
During a question-answer session after delivering the annual General B C Joshi memorial lecture at the University of Pune's department of defence and strategic studies, Singh said, "There is a healthy interplay between the home and defence ministries in order to achieve a comprehensive security system in the country.The NCTC, which will deal with the police and the Intelligence Bureau, is more in the domain of the ministry of home."
Singh delivered a lecture on the perspective of war in the 21st century and how conventional warfare will remain an integral part despite sophistication of wars post the 9/11 attacks in the US.
Citing Sri Lanka's successful adoption of generic methods in their counter-insurgency operation to combat the LTTE guerillas, he said, "It would be unwise of any country to write the obituary of conventional warfare because most challenges in the modern world involve the use of conventional combat like hand-to-hand and know-how of guerilla warfare.
Russia used cyberspace to gain an upper hand in their war against Georgia, while Sri Lankan army adopted guerilla tactics to breach the LTTE bastion. It is evident that countries should go ahead with development of low-tech artillery along with the general discretion of building sophisticated weapons to tackle both low- and high-intensity warfare."
"Conventional warfare has become even more crucial since the entry of non-state actors has led to an escalation of low-intensity warfare in the last decade. Thomas Friedman, an eminent journalist, said that future warfare will constitute 90% wars with non-state actors and it will be crucial for the security forces across the world to use indigenous tactics to thwart the enemies' potency," he added. He said that because of complications arising out of dealing with various non-state elements, a quick and decisive action will not be possible and it has to be a protracted battle in order to achieve the desired results.
Singh also said that it is "very difficult" for security forces across the world to adapt/change to indigenous forces if they are top-heavy due to piling of sophisticated arms.
Regarding Pakistan, he said, "Nations like us, who have water and land disputes with our neighbours, have to prepare for a state versus state scenario. Therefore, we have to adopt 'force-based structure' to negate external threats."
He said that air power (Air Force) would remain significant in the 21st century wars during counter-insurgencies and precision strikes. He further said that the role of the naval forces would become more significant to counter threats on high seas, expeditionary reasons to discover natural resources in the seas, controlling of sea and humanitarian causes.