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| Kashmir continues to be Army's biggest challenge | | Corrective measures to avoid loss of life: Army Chief | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, OCT. 28: It is offical: Protracted operations to cope with the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir have taken a heavy toll on the Indian Army. And as the Army commemorated the historic success of the 1947 airlift as Infantry Day on Friday, it was also an occcasion for introspection over the fact that Kashmir continues to be its bigest challenge six decades later.
The Army has been forced to commit a huge number of its troops to uphold Indian sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir. There have been, since the end of the 1947-48 war, many twists to the Kashmir conflict. And the conflict shows no signs of ending.
From a peak of 3,200 terrorist attacks in 1994, the Army continues to face about 500 guerilla attacks annually even now. And by its own admission, over 1,100 Army troopers have been killed in the last five years alone. Indian Army Chief, JJ Singh, has said: "We are taking corrective measures wherever required and ensuring that we try to save more men in the future and avoid loss of life".
It is widely acknowledged that conducting military operations within civil society have left a scar on the Army. Lt. Gen. VR Raghvan, former chief of military operations, has gone on record,saying: "The Indian Army does not use helicopter gunships, it does not use artillery, it does not use mortars. Therefore, it takes longer to do a job which otherwise by sheer force of firepower it can do quicker. This means the Army takes a heavier range of casualties."
There is a view that the Indian Army is a tired force, worn out from decades of counter-insurgency operations. Pakistan's Kargil adventure was based on this assumption. But the gritty Indian fightback proved that motivation levels of the Army are high and its fighting skills sharp despite being bogged down in a protracted conflict which shows no signs of ending.
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