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| Of Military Coups and 'Staged' Encounters | | | Nilesh Kunwar | 10/5/2015 10:09:51 PM |
| For the Indian army, it is what seems to be a double whammy. Firstly we have the revelation by a retired senior army officer that a military coup to oust Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi was planned in 1987 and the second, a detailed account by an experienced journalist outlining how the Indian army 'staged' encounters and indulged in extrajudicial killings during anti-militancy operations in the North Eastern states. As these allegations come at a time when the Indian armed forces are currently in public focus due to the One Rank One Pension standoff between defence forces veterans and the government these accusations of unbecoming acts by the men in uniform rightly merits public attention.
The allegation made by retired Lt Gen PN Hoon that the army was contemplating a military coup though shocking, is not unprecedented. Many eminent personalities with unquestionable antecedents have hinted that when Pakistan's last Governor General retired Maj Gen Iskander Mirza imposed martial law in Pakistan in 1958 and appointed the army chief Gen Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator, Prime Minister Nehru was convinced that the Indian army would follow suit. However, since this never happened, the public soon understood that unlike in Pakistan, the army in India was not power hungry and so this issue never figured in the media. However, in 2012, a leading national daily made the startling insinuations that the then army chief Gen VK Singh had tried to "spook" the government by ordering two key army units to move to New Delhi on the intervening night of January 16-17 without the knowledge or prior sanction of the government. In an attempt to give this news report authenticity, the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief tried to correlate the routine training activity involving movement of two units with the case filed by the then army chief Gen VK Singh pertaining to his date of birth controversy that was being heard by the supreme court. However, this news item turned out to be a 'dud' as on the night of 16-17 January, New Delhi already had a massive presence of tanks, guns and soldiers for the Republic Day celebrations. Therefore, when adequate capability to stage a coup was already present in New Delhi, getting two additional units would be akin to carrying coal to New Castle!
Now, in his recently released book "The Untold Truth," retired Lt Gen PN Hoon has alleged that serving President Zail Singh as well as some senior politicians who didn't share cordial relations with Rajiv Gandhi had hatched a plan to stage a coup and the then army chief Gen K Sunderji and the vice army chief Lt Gen SF Rodrigues were part of this plan. While this revelation scores very high on the sensationalism scale, it fares rather poorly on the credibility front for the following reasons-
" It would be ludicrous to believe that an army chief would be so naïve on military matters as to believe that he could successfully stage a coup without taking his army commanders into confidence by either seeking their support or ensuring their neutrality.
" In India, where the strength of the army and para-military forces runs into millions, it would be foolish to expect any army chief to believe that a successful coup could be staged with just three units even if they were from the crack para-commando units.
" Those staging coups invariably rely on tanks as these cannot be overwhelmed by the sheer force of numbers and being an expert as well as a very popular 'tank-man' himself, Gen Sundarji could have easily mustered up tanks.
" Lt Gen Hoon has claimed that he personally alerted Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his secretary Gopi Arora and also alleged that VC Shukla who was a cabinet minister in the government was also aware of this development. If this is true, then why didn't Rajiv Gandhi sack army chief Gen Sundarji and the vice army chief Lt Gen Rodriques? Even if Rajiv Gandhi was scared or too much of a gentleman to take this drastic step, VC Shukla was certainly not the man to let these two army generals off the hook after learning about what they were up to.
To sum up, Lt Gen Hoon has made a claim that is extremely weak on facts and so unconvincing that it few would believe it. Who would accept that President Zail Singh became part of the coup conspiracy in 1987 as he was upset with Rajiv Gandhi for corruption and negligence as well as not being bothered about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots? Furthermore, if the President was really so upset that he didn't care about the consequences that the ousting Rajiv Gandhi in a coup would have on the country or its democratic values, then why did the fear that the country would suffer as the coup could transfer power in the hands of the army suddenly made him change his mind?
In his book "Blood on My Hands" renowned journalist Kishalay Bhattarcharjee has exposed how the army has been routinely killing innocents in staged encounters in the North East while the State has intentionally been looking the other way. Purportedly based on the confessions of an anonymous army officer, the book contains some startling information regarding the existence of a "mafia" that allegedly supplies innocent men to army personnel who in turn kill them and earn "points" for promotion and awards. He has also claimed that the money to 'purchase' the men intended to be killed and passed off as militants as well as the weapons to be 'planted' on their corpses is obtained through illegal activities such as narcotics, timber smuggling and even human trafficking. He has also contended that succession and the big fights involving the army chiefs also have staged encounters as a part.
Kishalay claims that with "confessions" from Chief Secretaries, army Generals, Home Secretaries and Police officials, he was not sure whether to write a book that would "defame the Indian army," but he did so when a very senior army personnel told him that the book must be written since the "mess must be cleared!" It therefore appears that fired with a missionary zeal to 'clear the mess', Kishalay has painted the entire Indian army with colour provided by one anonymous army officer. Whereas there is nothing wrong in doing so, but the author's own admission that this anonymous officer whose confessions form a major part of the book was grateful to the author as "Apparently through one of my reports I had helped him," raises some suspicion regarding his objectivity.
The thought that this anonymous officer 'opened-up' to the author 'after a drink' too is not very comforting and the same goes for the very senior army personnel request to the author that the book must be written since the "mess must be cleared." It is by no means intended to suggest that what Kishalay has written is hogwash.
However, seeing the ever increasing number of army officers whose conscience suddenly starts pricking them the moment they lose out on promotions or shed their uniform, there is a need for authors to be cautious and guard against the possibility of being 'used' by someone who may have a genuine or even perceived sense of being treated unfairly by the organisation or by their seniors. Any organisation that permits or encourages violation of the law is bound to implode and the army is no exception. Therefore, while what the anonymous army officer has to say may have some element of truth in it; all that he has said cannot be taken as the gospel truth because. If staged encounters were indeed a routine affair in the army, then an army Colonel, a Captain and four soldiers would not have been given life imprisonment for a 'staged' encounter in J&K by an army court martial!
I too have a confession to make and that is I have neither read book written by Lt Gen PN Hoon nor by Kishalay Bhattarcharjee. Even though it may sound rude, but I rather not waste my time reading the former as what the retired General is trying to tell me is an insult to my very average intellect.
However, I do look forward to reading what Bhattarcharjee has written just out of curiosity as I can't figure out as to how someone as erudite as Kishalay could believe that a single swallow could make a summer ! |
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