Question:

What is External Security? What are the threats to India's external security. Discuss?
Paper:I,III
Topic: Indian geographic location, External security, economy, terrorism, cyber threats, armed
forces.

Model answer:

WHAT IS EXTERNAL SECURITY

External Security refers to any threat that a country, a nation, a State or a nation-State perceives to its
identity, its economy and its components, its stability, its borders and its population and in particular
the feel of the people, their mental and physical health as well as to its social, technological and
industrial infrastructure. The threat can be perceived which has not been negated and real whose
solution doesnt seem to be materializing.
A country is almost always in a state of threat to its external security, and it is perennially in a process
of negating these threats through diplomacy, alliances, geostrategies, etc.

Threats that affects

1. The mindset of the people, such as a colonial mindset, and being unaware of the loss of its own identity
2. The health of the people both mental and physical
3. The threats to countrys economy like its gradual sabotage, by eating into market and also with the help
of currency counterfeits, etc.
4. The susceptibility of the country towards cyber attacks, cyber warfare warfare information
manipulation and electronic warfare.

At the same time, India really faces some challenges on its external front some of it on its borders both
land borders and maritime borders, its territories and through some military actions and its plan. These
challenges include:

1. Existence and Opening of a two war front, if India safeguards itself against any nefarious designs of
Pakistan to thwart and to crush country destabilizing threats of terrorism emanating from that region.
2. The nuclear Threat emanating from both of its neighbors
3. China Pakistan Networking
4. Threats to Arunachal Pradesh and Siliguri corridor, and
5. Maritime threats
India in reality faces all these threats, and there is no country in the world that actually faces threats of
such dimension and such diversity with little to protect itself either from getting supported by the
citizens of India and its psyche and or structure of its economy or even its defense preparedness.
India is the only country in the world that faces two nuclear arms loaded countries, one going insanely
jealous and other lusting for its territory and people.
While all the threats are real and they exist, the emphasis of this chapter is mostly on the geostrategic
perspective.

Multiple Challenges
In considering Indias external security the countrys policy makers have to bear in mind the economic
backwardness and political instabilities of its smaller neighbors, the continued inimical relations that
Pakistan has maintained with India. It has used terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy and as a
force equalizer. India has to contend with the intentions of a powerful China that would seek to be the
paramount power in Asia. External security would demand assessment of conventional military threats
but in addition, terrorism, energy security, environmental degradation, demographic changes and
access to natural resources including water and markets are the new factors.
 The nature of threats that emanate from the weakness of the smaller countries and those from the
intentions of the bigger countries, China and Pakistan, are different and need different responses.

Cross-border threats
Most external threats emanate from an unsettled boundary dispute with China that has been forced on
India and ongoing cross-border jihadi terrorism in J&K sponsored terrorism, supported by ISI and
Pakistan-based Islamist fundamentalist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad
who, in turn, are inextricably linked with international jihadi groups like Taliban and Al Qaida.
Threat from Bangladesh assumes serious dimensions since it became a base for northeast insurgent
groups like ULFA and Naga factions. Of late, it has also been serving as a conduit for ISI sponsored
infiltration of terrorists along India and Bangladeshs porous border.
To cap it, nuclear threats from neighboring states and from jihadi groups have the potential of using
nuclear weapons in the foreseeable future, significant being China-Pakistan nuclear nexus.