The process of ‘War’, whether waged for noble or ignoble ends and for long considered a valid instrument of state policy, is broadly interpreted along the Clausewitzian dictum of the ‘application of organised violence for political ends’. The United Nations (UN) outlaws the proposition that states can use force for resolving their disputes.

The USS Enterprise naval task group entry into the Indian Ocean during the closing stages of 1971 Indo-Pak Conflict led to further deterioration in the relations between India and the United States (US), and this estrangement lasted until the end of the Cold War. The US couched this show of force under the rubric of ensuring safety of American personnel caught up in a war zone. In India, however, this was seen as a coercive attempt to prop up a genocidal military regime.