news details |
|
|
| Army's views need careful study: Antony | | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, JAN. 19: The Defence Minister, AK Antony, does not want anyone in the country to ignore or under-estimate the Indian Army's views on the future of Siachen glacier--particularly the issue of demilitarization. After his unpublished consultations with the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. JJ Singh, on the vital question of how to go about the issue, theDefence Minister first interacted with the Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee, and then with his Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
Antony declined to make public all that came up for discussions he had during his separate meetings with the Army Chief, Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister. Antony may not be a specialist on defence affairs. But, according to knowledge sources, Antony, after his detailed discussions with Gen. JJ Singh, has declined to find fault with the stand taken by the Army on louder noises from Islamabad in support of the demilitarization of the Siachen sector in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir State.
And after being adequately equipped with data by the Army Chief in relation to the stepped-up importance of Siachen glacier for India, Antony, these sources said, conveyed to the Prime Minister his (Antony's) assessment of the situation, which inter alia justified views and certain "apprehensions" of the Indian Army leadership on the Siachen issue. According to these sources, Antony is for a careful examination of the Army's views before the UPA government takes up the matter for a setlement with Pakistan.
It has been noticed in recent times that each time India and Pakistan talk Siachen, Army officials located in the other half of Delhi's South Block break out in a nervous sweat. Thereby begins the not-so-subtle attempt to influence the flow of information. On the eve of the Defence Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in August 2006, the Army flew journalists to Siachen base camp. There, they issued the dread warning that if India did a deal on Siachen, and if something like Kargil happened in the near future, they could not be called upon to perform ungodly acts of heroism as they did in 1999.
Small wonder that at the end of the first day of the Defence Secretary-level talks between the wto countries, then Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, announced: "The talks have failed.'' Six months later, Pranab Mukherjee took over as External Affairs Minister, in which capacity he visited Pakistan-- for the first time-- recently. There, Mukherjee is believed to have made an unusual proposal on Siachen: Even as both countries debated the pros and cons of authenticating the ground positions of Indian troops on the Saltoro ridge that is west of the Siachen glacier, even as they put together a schedule of troop disengagement and redeployment to their respective base camps, both sides could begin to build trust by jointly cleaning up the Siachen glacier.
Within 48 hours India's Army Chief Gen. JJ Singh had decided that it was time for some headlines. He told journalists that he had conveyed the Army's views to the political leadership on Siachen and he hoped that "these would be taken into account''.
Clearly, the Indian Army, so far subservient to its political masters, was seeking to expand command and control. The Army feels that it has a right to its point of view.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
