Dear Admiral Harinder & Brig. Kamboj,
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I am forwarding a write up, as an attachment, for pormulgation to the veterans, and if the response is positive, you may request your management committees to write to the Chiefs of Staff to project the strong views of the veterans on the subject
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(Cdr HK Nag, 8th JSW Course, Noida)
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The Unacceptable Slight
to Indian Defence Force
by Hirak Nag
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“ During the controversy over the Joint Parliamentary Committee in Parliament, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee stated on February 21, 2011, “Parliament cannot be mortgaged to conceding of a demand, “warning that if hatred for parliamentary institution was generated, it will lead to the rise of extra-constitutional authority as in the neighbouring country in 1958 when martial law was declared”.( quotation from “ The Man on Horseback” by Lt. Gen. Sinha).
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Such an aversion by the No.2 man in the Cabinet was unnecessary, uncalled for and has hurt the members of the Indian Defence Forces, who have dedicated their live for the last 63 years for the Safety, Honour and Welfare of the country. P. Mukherjee, other politicians and the bureaucracy do not understand the meaning of honour, as do soldiers, sailors and airmen. The soldiers, sailors and airmen therefore take P. Mukherjee’s inference that the Indian Defence Force will do a dishonourable act of a coup as a hurtful and unacceptable inference.
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We strongly urge the Chiefs of Staff Committee to convey this to the PM and demand an apology in Parliament. Furthermore, they may demand that the Arun Singh Committee report recommending the introduction of the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff and integration of Defence Headquarters with Ministry of Defence, already approved by a Group of Ministers, be implemented without further delay.
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In the matter of OROP, three AFTs and the Supreme Court have given their approvals, but the bureaucrats are once again shilly-shallying and not issuing the required order. We cannot accept this dictatorship of clerks. The order for the OROP must be issued forthwith. P. Mukherjee needs to be wary more of the politician-bureaucracy-criminal nexus to destabilize the country, and actively ensure an effective Lok Pal is placed as desired by a more aware Indian Public. The bureaucratic overriding of ministerial decisions, decisions by sanctioned judicial authorities like the AFTs, and even the Supreme Court, is leading to the setting up of an extra- constitutional authority which P. Mukherjee fears. This must be stopped forthwith.
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The Defence forces have been treated in a slipshod manner from the beginning when JL Nehru in an imperious dictate asked the Army to throw out the Chinese when the Chinese merely asked to discuss the disputed border in the North East. He gave this verbal order without caring to assess the ground situation, the opposition, the weather condition, Indian Army’s armament adequacy, the logistic requirement or any other required factors before giving the fateful verbal order against a bigger country. It was an irresponsible order which caused the slaughter of brave men. He is reported to have said later “ I should have listened to the Generals!”. A very unacceptable regret. He had given trust of overseeing the control of the Defence Forces to his friend K. Menon, a man with no vision but a big mouth. This man played favorites with the Generals and made the Army hierarchy weak and dysfunctional, resulting in the Indian Army’s proud heritage to be sullied. It riles that an important road and a statue stands in this man’s name. This would have been the cause of a mutiny for a less honourable Defence Force.
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The Srilankan IPKF misadventure by the grandson, Rajiv G., was another questionable order.
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It is however to be noted that Sri Lanka has built a memorial to honour and remember the contribution of the IPKF. The Indian government has not, for any of the operations carried out to protect the Motherland with the supreme sacrifice of many, many soldiers, sailors and airmen. Why ? Maybe P. Mukherjee would have an answer.
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Responsible ministers in a democracy MUST care for the lives of their fighting forces. In India this is not so because their sons are not exposed. They do not face the trauma of a wife, a mother, a child who losses a soldier. It is very, very shattering. The brother soldiers are also effected, because of the close bond developed in a fighting unit.
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After effecting the changes of the Defence Ministry, the professionals, the Army, Navy and Air Force in consultation with the Chief Ministers, Police, Para-Military Forces should draw up a long-term (say 5 year to correspond to a Lok Sabha term) National Strategic Directive from which should flow an annual National Security Policy, both these to be white papers to be disseminated for all to be guided for the protection of the country. This will allow proper force structure, requirement of armaments and equipment and a disciplined manner of using the country’s forces, and eliminate ad-hoc orders for troop mobilization and orders for attacks.
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Finally, the country should be informed that of the many scams reported in the last one year, the Army has taken prompt action in dismissing and imprisoning FIVE Lt Generals for their un-honorable and criminal actions. Regrettably, the civilian fraternity are being hesitant and not ONE of the criminals have yet been punished. We hope that a Lok Pal Bill, as envisaged by Anna Hazare, will be enacted by 15th August, so that the country is able to retrieve the $ 1.4 trillion siphoned off from the country.
Hirak Nag
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