SCPC: Is it a conspiracy?

Ever since the recommendations of the 6 Pay Commission were made public and the subsequent farce enacted by the Committee of Secretaries (COS), ostensibly to correct the utmost glaring anomalies affecting the Defence Services, many writers have opined that yet another degradation of the military: "Is a deliberate act" by the bureaucracy.

Just before WW II, when Hitler had made up his mind to attack Russia, the German intelligence launched a massive operation to convince Stalin, the Russian dictator, about the unreliability of the Russian military and an imminent military coup against him. So successful was the German ploy that Stalin launched massive purges against his military. About 40,000 (forty thousand ) officers were executed in the process. When the Germans eventually attacked Russia, the Russian military was virtually leaderless, resulting in stunning German victories which brought them at the very gates of Moscow.

Similar game is being played against our military by our (potential) enemies for quite some time. When Nehru died in 1964, wiser from the massive problems of crowd control which were faced during Mahatma Gandhi's funeral, last rites arrangements were handed over to the Army at the very last minute. The then Army Chief, Gen JN Chaudhary, moved a brigade to Delhi for that purpose. Pakistan intelligence reportedly alerted our govt. Though it was too late and perhaps too risky to countermand the Chief's order at that stage, the clever 'Bureaucrats' came with a plan to, reportedly, appoint the three military chiefs as "Chief Mourners" to be present at the late Prime Minister's body, pending his funeral, (so that they could not launch any coup). No wonder later the govt passed orders that no formation could be moved to Delhi without its permission. That's why when other Prime Ministers died the Chiefs were no longer put as "Chief Mourners", (for there was no need to thus 'confine' them). Later the 'Vested Interest' convinced an insecure and suspicious Mrs India Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, to raise a parallel army with artillery and other supporting weapons, in the form of BSF. This increased vast 'Establishment' for the IAS and opened flood gates of opportunities and promotions for the IPS officers. Can the BSF handle Artillery Guns in Siachen or Nathu La?

During the Indo-Pak stand- off in 1986-87, in the form of Exercise "Brass Tacks" (and later 'Operation Trident' ), as confirmed by Pakistani Gen Arif in a book, the Pak ISI, spread canard of military take over in India. Unfortunately Mr Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister appeared to have swallowed the bait hook line and sinker and Pakistan killed two birds with one stone. Not only any possibility, how so remote it might have been, of any Indian attack, was removed, but a strong suspicion was sown in the young mind of the Prime Minister against the then army chief, General Sundreji. When the mutual relations between the two deteriorated as a sequel to the on going Bofors controversy, Gen Sunderji, after his retirement in an interview to "India Today" in July Bofors Gun 1989 remarked , "What could they have done to me? Get me killed through RAW." The very fact that a thought of RAW killing him crossed his mind speaks volumes in itself. No wonder, the Indian Defence Services suffered massive degradation at the behest of the 4th and 5th Pay Commissions.

Now, through the mechanism of the 6th Pay Commission, the process of that massive degradation and humiliation of our Defence Services has almost been completed. It appears to be aimed at total breakdown of their self- confidence and working relationship with the Para Military Forces (PMF). In the light of 'Red Corridor' spanning about one third of India covering almost 160 districts from Pashupati in Nepal to Tirupati in south India, where hardly any governance exists; frequent pan India serial blasts by the terrorists at will; dangerous spread of regionalism and religious hatred; very strong centrifugal forces are at play. These centrifugal forces have a strong potential to balkanize India (to a manageable size– which is the stated aim of Pakistan, perhaps an 'unstated' one by China too). If, the only centripetal force, the military, can be rendered dysfunctional due to its low self esteem, poor morale and perpetual bickering between it and the PMF, our enemies would have delightfully achieved their aim.

In view of the foregoing, is it far fetched to theorise that a conspiracy is on against India to break it and the 6th Pay Commission is just one of its tools? After all, our bureaucracy is notorious for its all pervasive corruption. With just a few thousand crores per head stashed/ stacked in foreign banks, (coming back as FDI- thanks to Finance Ministry) perhaps some of the bureaucrats have been occasionally bought by our enemies to play 'fifth columnists' against their own country by weakening its Defence Services. Otherwise how can one explain non- implementation of Subrahamanyam Report after 'Kargil' fiasco. Every one agrees that 'Kargil' was a massive intelligence failure, interestingly the then RAW chief who should have been held accountable for it, was sent as Governor of Arunanchal Pradesh, perhaps, as a reward.

We have a strong tradition of Raja Ambhis, Jai Chands and Mir Jaffars, just to name a few. It is not beyond the pale of imagination that they are again active in their modern avtars in the form of our 'Review Committees' and others bent upon destroying the morale and motivation of the Indian Military Might. When finally the final moment of reckoning comes, perhaps history would repeat itself as it has been doing from Alexander the Great onwards; over a span of about 2300 years, with just one exception of 1971 AD,victory in Bangladesh.

The nation needs to understand that degrading the Rank, Honour and skewing the Pay Parity of the Armed Forces vis a vis the Para Military Forces and Bureaucrats will render its Military "Might" to a "Naught". We need to urgently address/ set right all the Pay Commission anomalies and restore the morale of the Military (which incidently includes the Ex Servicemen).

Brig Harwant Singh (Retd)