On 22 April 2025, when there was a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, India launched Operation Sindoor to counter this attack.
In which India carried out an air strike on Pakistani terrorists and it was not on Pakistan but on the terrorists settled in Pakistan and you must have noticed one thing that when India did an air strike on Pakistani terrorists, then the relations between India and Pakistan seemed to be getting stronger.
So the point here is that when India attacks Pakistan, then the risk of China and Bangladesh attacking India also increases, so the thing to understand here is whether India is ready for a three front war.
As India is increasing its dominance at the global level, the threat to India in the North East is also increasing. Like when India attacked Pakistan under Operation Sindoor, even then the threat to India’s North Eastern State was increasing by Bangladesh and China.
Just a few days ago, a statement came from a retired Major General of Bangladesh Army Rahman, in which he said that as soon as India does any military retaliation against Pakistan, then Bangladesh, along with China, will try its best to take over the North East of India. Retired Major General Rahman is considered a close friend of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Some defense experts say that India is fully strong to deal with Pakistan but India should have a strong diplomacy at the global level to deal with Bangladesh and China simultaneously.
Former Indian Army Chief General Navane Sahib says that if India fights a three front war then India will have to focus on its economy, information and diplomacy along with defence at the global level.
How can India avoid three front attacks?
This is not the first situation when India had to be ready for a three front war. When the Indo-Pakistan war took place in 1965 and the ‘Bangladesh liberation War’ took place in 1971, which we can also call the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, at that time also a three front war condition was created with India.
At that time also, India had saved itself from a direct war with China and America by using good diplomacy at the global level.
Yes, we all know that China defeated India in the 1962 war, but when the Indo-Pak war took place in 1965, even then China tried its best to provoke India, but India, by using its balanced diplomacy, did not get subdued by China and focused its attention only on the 1965 Indo-Pak war, due to which India did not get entangled with China and maintained itself only in the Indo-Pak war.
After this, in 1966, India signed the Tashkent Agreement under the mediation of USSR and the war between the two countries ended and the tension between the two countries also reduced. By avoiding the cold war situation between India and Pakistan, India has also saved itself from all the super powers at the global level.
In the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, America had landed its nuclear aircraft carrier in the Bay of Bengal to support Pakistan, but you should know an interesting thing that in July 1971, India had already signed a peace and cooperation agreement with Russia.
When the nuclear aircraft carrier was landed in the Bay of Bengal, to counter it, Russia had landed its marines and aircraft in the Bay of Bengal, which also saved India from the conditions of the three front war.
Can India handle three front war??
Some of the Indian defence experts say that it is not easy to fight on three fronts but according to them this war is not so difficult that India cannot fight it. According to the Indian Defence Ministry, India always instructs its army to deal with the situation on three fronts and keeps preparing them.
Indian Defence Ministry says that India always moves forward with peace but if any country tries to break India’s sovereignty, its unity and integrity, then India is always ready to give a befitting reply to its enemies.
From time to time, India keeps deploying Strike one Corps as per its requirement on its North Eastern border. Strike one Corps is considered to be a special Corps of the Indian Army which has played a significant role in the 1965 and 1971 India-Pak war. Strike one Corps is also known as First Corps and its headquarters is in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
Conclusion
Some defense experts believe that the 3 front wars of today’s era can be quite different from the normal wars. India’s former defense secretary Radha Krishna Mathur says that today’s war will not only be fought by the army, but it can also have air force power, cyber security and space related wars.
Today’s era has become a fifth generation warfare instead of a normal one. Fifth generation warfare is a war of this time in which military retaliation is done in a non-kinetic way, in which social engineering, misinformation, cyber domain, artificial intelligence etc. are used.