About the Occasional Paper

The paper argues that India urgently requires a joint-services military manual on the law of war. It recalls India’s ancient humanitarian traditions in Kautilya, the Mahabharata and Manu, and notes that today’s large, volunteer armed forces operate in wars, prolonged internal conflicts and UN peacekeeping without clear, consolidated legal instructions. As a party to the Hague and Geneva Conventions and several other treaties, India is obliged to translate these norms into practical guidance, training, rules of engagement and command responsibility. Surveying manuals in states such as the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Canada and New Zealand, the author shows how they clarify targeting rules, protection of civilians and prisoners, cultural property, prohibited weapons and liability of commanders. Responding to likely military objections, he stresses that a manual would not create new law but restate existing obligations, and recommends a government-appointed expert committee to draft and publish it.