Indian Express: A blast from the blue!

What is wrong with INDIAN EXPRESS? A blast from the blue!
Ref: Poor military leadership, not equipment, led to 1962 debacle: Report under wraps by Pranab Dhal Samanta Posted online: Sun Oct 14 2012
Tribune Response

TRIBUNE SPECIAL: 1962 WAR: LEADERS FAILED INDIA- II

TRIBUNE SPECIAL: Why India and China went to war in 1962-I

Readers Comments
Dear All,
I have info that Shekhar Gupta does not have access to Handerson-Brooks Report. As usual he is bluffing and continues to belittle the Army as he did in the non-existant 'Coup' report.
M.G.Devasahayam

Dear Mr Gupta,
You have once again demonstrated your pathological dislike for military men. On whose instructions have you cherry picked portions of the Henderson Brooks report to pillory the army higher command which was in saddle in 1962? You have conveniently omitted mention of the misdeeds of the bureaucrats and political actors in the fiasco of 1962.
Do you think that if only the generals were to be blamed this report would have been kept under wraps for over 50 years? I will give you an instance which I witnessed as a Maj Gen when I was serving in Army HQ in 1986. The Army under Gen Sundarji was then working on a 15 year perspective plan. After a draft plan had been made the Chief held a conference in his office which was attended by Mr Arun Singh, MOS Defence at that time, and all concerned officers upto Maj Gens and MoD officers upto Joint Secretary level, to explain the Plan and get addl inputs from participants.
Having attended a number of meetings in the Chief's office earlier I was rather surprised to see a tape recorder in the middle of the table. Its presence was soon explained by Mr Arun Singh. He revealed that he had just completed reading the Henderson Brooks report (he had been in the job a few months only) and he wanted that in future all such important deliberations be recorded. I can vouch for it, which can be confirmed from Mr Arun Singh, that there were a number of interventions/ suggestions by the gens present but there was not a word recorded that had been uttered by the bureaucrats. Reason being that they either had nothing to contribute or they were too scared that any foolish utterance would be held against them.
Being ADG (Fin Plg) at Army HQ I attended a few meetings with the Chief at the Cabinet Secretariat to discuss the 15 Year Perspective Plan with the CCPA consisting of secretaries of the most important ministries of the govt. The inputs from the honorable participants were pathetic even if one is most charitable. Firstly, a member had come without even reading the Plan document. Secondly, they would behave like a housewife bargaining in the vegetable market. The plan outlay was a few thousand crores rupees and their only input was that we should cut Rs 50 crores off the amount earmaked for armoured vehicles and or Rs 600 crores out of the ammunition outlay- no reasons being given. It was really shocking for me, a first timer at Army HQ, to see how our higher defence planning was being done. The Henderson Brooks Report must have exposed where the politico-bureaucratic combine had let the Army down; but, with your help, it only wants to give out the portion which the Army was honest enough to reveal to learn lessons from its mistakes. Will the other half be half as honest for the sake of the country?
We have still not been told why the IB/RAW were totally blind in 1962, about LTTE's intentions in 1987, before the IC 814 Hijack, the 27/11 and many other humiliating faux pas where the players were only civilians? The trouble is that there were no Tape Recorders and nobody wants to learn from his mistakes.
Lt Gen SK Bahri (Retd)

Dear Mr. Shekhar Gupta,
Please see the coverage below by The Tribune vis a vis what your worthy Newspaper headllined on the very Front Page two days ago regarding !!
One fails to understand what grouse a person of your eminence and experience has against the generals and what has the Nation gained by reading the headlines in your Newspaper!!
1962 War was primarily failure of political leadership headed by Pt Nehru and his favorite Krishna Menon. Mr. Mullick, the Intelligence Zar also played a key role. Generals like Kaul were thrust on the Army by the politicians, Maj Gen Pathania was brought in by Gen Kaul to command 4 Inf Division at the last moment when it was under attack by the Chinese and one of its brigade annihilated. A division is not a machine whose commander can press a few buttons and start commanding and leading it in battle. He has to know his brigadiers, battalions, troops, the terrain and vice a versa if the division has to face an enemy like the Chinese. The debacle had to happen.
Politicians and the bureaucrats must not interfere overly with the functioning of the Armed Forces. They seem to have learned nothing from 1962 debacle. How can they, when newspapers like Indian Express dish out such headlines on the 50th Anniversary of a monumental historical event!
There is no other organization as professional, dedicated, nationalistic and prepared to give sacrifices as the Armed Forces. There are some bad apples, as in any organisation but the Armed Forces are the only organisation which take strict action in this country.
Elders like you in the media should nurture the Armed Forces. Your mature critique is most welcomed. But not denigrating the Armed Forces please! They are the last bastion in our beloved country along with the judiciary and the media and have risen to the occasion in war and peace. Anyone who derides the generals does a great disservice to the Army and the Nation.
You are fully aware of the tough selection for the officer cadre and their training through out their careers. You also know about the very narrow and steep pyramid to reach the top rung. Only the best that the system selects become flag rank officers. The system is by and large fair.
MR. GUPTA, THIS IS THE BEST INDIA CAN PRODUCE. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY. LIKE FOREIGN COACHES FOR HOCKEY, CRICKET, BOXING YOU MAY SUGGEST TO THE GOVT TO GET FOREIGN GENERALS ESPECIALLY FROM ITALY TO COMMAND THE ARMY!!
Sincerely,
Harbhajan Singh
Lt Gen, PVSM

Gen Vijay Oberoi leads the Half Marathon

Dear All,
The War Wounded Foundation had participated in the Delhi Half-Marathon on Sunday 30 September 2012. A total of three officers, 1 JCO and 12 jawans, all disabled, ran in the Great Delhi Run, as a group and completed the full race. The distance was approximately seven km. The group of war disabled personnel was lead by me.
The NDTV had covered it. Clips were shown briefly a number of times in the news segments on 01 October 12.
The Chief Minister of Delhi had met our group before the commencement of the race.
A few photographs taken during the race are as above for your viewing.
Regards.
Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd)
Comments: The RMS team and Readers congratulate Gen Vijay Oberoi and all the War Wounded Veterans who participated in the Half Marathon Run. Other ESM Organisations should popularise such events in all Metro Cities. These media events will enhance the prestige of the Military especially the Veterans. These positive events should replace protest rallies which are a waste of time. Let us run a Marathon for "One Rank One Pension".

War disabled event at OTA Chennai on 20 Oct 2012

From: Vijay Oberoi
WAR DISABLED EVENT AT CHENNAI
As you may be aware, I head the War Wounded Foundation, an NGO that is working for the long term rehabilitation of war disabled personnel of the three services. We are now about 10 years old. Till now, our work covered only the northern states. In our first expansion, we have decided to expand our activities by covering the four southern states viz. Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in addition to our continuing efforts in the north.
With the above in view, our Foundation is scheduling an event at Chennai, as the ‘curtain raiser’ for our entry in to Southern India. The event has a number of aims, like giving visibility to the Foundation and the war disabled personnel; to honour the war disabled personnel of the four southern states; to apprise the war disabled about our future plans; and raise funds if possible. The event is scheduled on 20 October 2012 and the COAS has kindly consented to be the Chief Guest. The event would include collecting a cross-section of war disabled personnel from the four southern states and honouring them. There would also be a Karate Display by a local organization as part of the event. We would also note down any legitimate grievances of the war disabled and project them to the concerned authorities.
The venue for the event is the Auditorium of OTA at Chennai. The function will commence at 1130 hours on Saturday 20 October 2012 and will end at about 1315 hours. This includes a tea break of 30 minutes in which the war disabled and others will get a chance to interact with the COAS over a cup of tea. Attendance would be by invitation.
Our Foundation has already sent letters to the war disabled personnel residing in the four southern states, asking them to get in touch with us, to enable us to select personnel from all the four states to attend the event. However, our address lists may not be comprehensive or updated. We do need to mobilize sufficient war disabled personnel from the southern states for attending the event at Chennai on 20 Oct 12. The need is to get in touch with them and motivate them to come to Chennai on 19 Oct, attend the event on the forenoon of 20 Oct 2012 and return home the same evening or the next day. All war disabled personnel get concessions/no payment on buses and trains. The balance cost of fares, if any would be paid by us. We would also make arrangements for their stay at Chennai in a local unit.
I am now requesting Brig Chander Kamboj to put this on his very well read blog - REPORT MY SIGNAL, so that the message goes to everyone. I would like to request you to spread the word so that maximum war disabled personnel come to know about the event. They could be informed about the function and requested to get in touch with our office at Delhi and not only let us know whether they would be able to attend, but also to be in touch with our Foundation so that they can benefit by joining our future programmes. Details of our office are as under:

Address – War Wounded Foundation; Flat No. 313, Ground Floor (LIG); Pocket 1, Sector-23; Dwarka, New Delhi-110077.

Executive Officer – Lt Col Gulshan Kumar; Mobile – 9810989524. 011 45604116.

E-mail – warwounded(at)rediffmail(dot)com.
I would also request various veteran groups to circulate this amongst their groups, so that maximum personnel come to know about our Foundation as well as the proposed event.
Regards.
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi
President
War Wounded Foundation

Antony reveals War Memorial at India Gate

Antony reveals War Memorial at India Gate finally on anvil
By ANI | ANI – Fri 17 Aug, 2012
New Delhi, Aug.17 (ANI) Defence minister A K Antony on Friday said that most of the hurdles coming in the way of the construction of the national war memorial next to India Gate have been cleared.
Talking to media persons after attending a function to felicitate London Olympic silver medalist Subedar Major Vijay Kumar here, Antony said:"Most hurdles are over now."
Sources in the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the war memorial will be constructed near India Gate only, as that is the place demanded by the three services.
After a proposed meeting on the issue on August 21 of the Group of Ministers (GoM), a final meeting shall take place and and then cabinet approval will be sought, they added.
The armed forces had submitted a proposal three years ago to construct a war memorial within the India Gate complex, but after the initial rejection of their proposal by the Government recently, they are now looking at new locations for it. The government had earlier decided against the proposal after certain objections were raised by the Urban Development Ministry.
The military's demand for a national war memorial to honour the 20,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen who have sacrificed their lives while defending independent India has been a longstanding one. A broad section of the urban public echoes this plea. The demand is for a prominent memorial on New Delhi's Central Vista, which can be visited freely by the Indian public, and where wreathes can be offered by national leaders on occasions like the Republic Day, and by visiting foreign dignitaries who choose to do so.
The current memorial, the Amar Jawan Jyoti, is merely an add-on to the India Gate, an imposing 42-metre high British structure, built in 1921, to honour the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in the First World War and the third Anglo-Afghan War. India finds it bothersome to suitably commemorate those who fell in service of the republic.
Anyone who has travelled along India's borders with China and Pakistan cannot have missed the lonely memorials at the places where Indian troops fought and died. Amongst them, is the stark monument to Major Shaitan Singh and his 111 Kumaoni soldiers who battled to the last, holding up a major Chinese advance on the desolate, windswept plateau of Chushul.
Major Shaitan Singh is a winner of the Param Vir Chakra, and is honoured only in that unvisited war memorial near Chushul. No national memorial is inscribed with the name of Major Shaitan Singh.
According to an article written by former army officer-turned journalist Ajai Shukla a couple of years ago, the proposal for a National War Memorial predates independent India.
According to Shukla, a confidential memo, issued on March 3, 1945, from the War Department in New Delhi (in File No. 110-C/45, entitled "Indian National War Memorial", in the Governor's Secretariat, Confidential Branch) declares that the Government of India (GoI) has been examining "the question of the form that an Indian National War Memorial should take".
The memo orders that "the establishment of a Military Academy on the lines of the United States Military Academy at West Point for the education and basic training together of future officers of the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force would be the most suitable form for the memorial to take". In short, according to Shukla, New Delhi proposed that what was to become the famous National Defence Academy (NDA), which is still the bedrock of Indian officer training, would also serve as India's National War Memorial.
Till date, India does not have a memorial for post-independence martyrs.(ANI)
Antony reveals War Memorial at India Gate finally on anvil
Related Reading
For those who gave their today by J.F.R. Jacob : Fri Sep 14 2012, 03:38 hrs

Fighting Insurgency and Terrorists Reducing Army to Policemen and Indiscipline

Take turbulence in the ranks seriously
Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi | Agency: DNA | Thursday, August 23, 2012
Three incidents of collective indiscipline by jawans in the last few months, reflecting a breakdown in the traditionally close officer-man relationship, are a cause for concern, especially as all three of them are related to combat units, where a stable and healthy officer-man relationship is an article of faith.
The Indian Army, with a justifiably proud record of service to the nation, has always placed officers-men bonding at the highest level.
In the past, the army has handled such incidents with compassion and firmness. Such incidents will no doubt happen again. However, there is need for comprehensive remedial actions. We must not succumb to a tendency of being simplistic, like attributing such incidents to recent cases of corruption amongst a few senior officers. Such attributions are obviously absurd, as these are two vastly different issues. The need is actually to focus on command and control, discipline and officer-man relationships.
In combat units, a thorough knowledge of jawans by their officers is a must. Included in this are the jawans’ capabilities and limitations; what enthuses or dampens their spirits; their backgrounds as well as of their families; and whether they are team persons or loners. Earlier, senior unit officers acted as guides and mentors in this respect. Unfortunately, on account of the huge shortage of officers in combat units today, as well as the large number of tasks assigned to the few available officers, it is virtually impossible for them to spare time to do so now.
The main reason for this state of affairs is the prolonged employment in fighting insurgents and terrorists over decades now, which have taken stress and fatigue to extremely high levels. These operations are extremely difficult and full of tension, especially on account of scrupulously adhering to human rights norms.
A major caveat of the army’s secondary role of assisting the civil administration is that it must be released as soon as the task is over, but in counter-insurgency operations there appears to be no end state! There has been no insurgency in the north eastern states for many years now, but neither the states concerned nor the central government want to release the army. In J&K, the situation has improved vastly, but the police forces are not in a position to assume control. The army’s reasoning that the situation will deteriorate rapidly if the army is de-inducted is sound, but why are the police forces not being made capable?
While the government must squarely take the blame for this state of affairs, the army hierarchy also needs to be blamed for not pursuing it relentlessly.
There are also three other issues that need to be tackled by the government. The first is deliberately downgrading the esteem and importance of the military by successive governments. This has resulted in our soldiers becoming greatly disillusioned not only with the government officials but, what is worse, also with their own officers, who are being viewed as devoid of any power, as civil and police officials studiously ignore requests from commanding officers relating to various problems of soldiers projected by them. This is in stark contrast to earlier times when the civil officials responded with alacrity when a commanding officer wrote to them about the personal or collective problems of his jawans. This aspect needs immediate improvement by good governance and by educating the officials.
Soldiers’ lay their lives on the line, not because of the pay or allowances that they get (which in any case are less than what the equivalent civil officials receive) but because of their self-esteem and military élan. These need to be nurtured by the civil administration.
The second and related issue is the military intake. Although recruitment rallies draw large numbers, the reason is no longer pride in joining the military but massive unemployment, resulting in inferior manpower joining the military. In the case of officers, young men from traditional military families are no longer enthused with the forces. The main reason is the decline of respect for the military.
The last point is the treatment of the veterans. The government needs to understand that the policy of ignoring those who have served the nation sacrificing their all will be a disaster in the long run. Future generations will not heed the call of the bugle when they see neither respect nor adequate financial benefits being given to the veterans. The present indifference and callousness must end.
Will Delhi wake up?
The writer is a former Vice Chief of Army Staff.
Take turbulence in the ranks seriously

Ageing Indian Army: Anti- Insurgency/ Counter- Terrorism or a Combat Force?

The Asian Age Home » Opinion » Interview of the Week
‘In terms of manpower, the Indian Army is ageing’
This is a good interview. I endorse Gen Malik's views on most issues.
1. Defence Services must have greater voice in forming National Strategic policies. Not to be left to Group of Ministers, mostly.
2. Having a CDS is a must.
3. Our organisations and concepts of large scale operations in mountains are old. The Army in the mountains in particular has to become LEANER AND MEANER. Much greater integral heli lift is essential as also armed hepter resources.
4. Indian Army has got tired of operating in counter insurgency operations in J&K and in the East. How long can a unit remain in such areas, year after year. Pakistan has really bled us for the last 64 years. These guys have nothing to eat and spend and an individual can be hired to do Jehad for paltry sums. Our passive attitude has not served us well. The only way is to have a TIT for TAT policy. We have to ignite the flame in Balochistan and let the Pak Army bleed there. The British and the Americans would also be interested to boil up things in Balochistan. Pak Army only understands a strong response.
Veteran Harbhajan Singh
Lt Gen

Interview of the Week with General VP Malik Jan 15, 2012
On the occasion of Army Day, former Army Chief Gen. V.P. Malik says that the current method of civilian control over the military leaves much to be desired. He also tells Sridhar Kumaraswami that grouping all strike corps under a strategic command is not a good idea.
In what ways can a career in the Army be made more attractive? Does this require more cash incentives or just better parity with the civilian services?
Three requirements, in order of priority:

improved promotion prospects with a golden handshake early-retirement policy

improved civil-military services parity

greater respect for soldiers and ex-servicemen from the government and society. We need to revisit terms and conditions of service that were framed in a different socio-economic milieu many years ago.
click here for the full interview

Mumbai Terror Attack 13 July 2011 update

14 Jul, 2011, 02.55AM IST,IANS
Mumbai terror attack: Mobile network jammed after blasts
MUMBAI: Thousands of people in Mumbai had difficulty in contacting their near and dear ones as the mobile network was jammed soon after the triple blasts in the city.

Though police said they have not asked the service providers for any such service, experts said that anxious people calling their relatives and friends could have resulted in the networks getting jammed. The situation eased considerably after 10 p.m.

Twenty-one people were killed Wednesday evening in three bomb attacks in Mumbai's Dadar West, Zaveri Bazar and Opera House. Over 140 people were injured.
Meanwhile, The city's King Edward Memorial Hospital, which is treating eight people who were injured in the serial blasts Wednesday evening, was under tight security. Media persons were not allowed to enter the hospital.
More than a dozen armed police personnel were deployed outside the hospital, while some officers and constables are keeping a vigil inside.

"Lots of people are coming because they don't know where their relatives are being treated and apart from them others are also coming. So we have to make sure that the right people are getting entry into the hospital for security reasons," said an official. The notice board outside the hospital, which is located in Parel, has listed the names of eight people who got injured in the blasts in Zaveri Bazara, Opera House and Dadar.

A doctor at the hospital, Prashant Bangar told IANS: "Three of the eight were very serious. One had a very serious injury, one had abdominal injury and the other had fractures. The first two are kept in the ICU after operation."

A wardboy said that "so far there has been no casualty here". Sixty-two-year-old Dhananjay Adhikari was rushed to the hospital after he got a splinter in his stomach in the blast at the Opera House. "I went to Opera House for personal work and blast happened very near to me. I saw people being blown away and dying," said Adhikari who is recuperating after getting first aid. His son arrived in the hospital to take care of him.
Mumbai terror attack: Mobile network jammed after blasts
Photos Courtesy: Triple 'terror' blasts kill 21 in Mumbai

...

Army to enhance 'Awam-Jawan' relationship

New Year's Resolutions

To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.” By James Agate

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” By Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Zee News Srinagar: Vowing to enhance 'Awam-Jawan' relationship in Kashmir in the New Year, the army's top general has said the security forces will work with sincerity and honesty to establish peace and ensure respect and dignity for everyone.

"(Army) begins the new year with a renewed resolve to work for the betterment of society with unadulterated sincerity and honesty in the pursuit of peace and the desire to quantitatively enhance the 'Awam' and Jawan relationship of respect and love," General Officer Commanding of the strategic 15 Corps of the Army Lieutenant General S A Hasnain said in his New Year message.

Hasnain is the second Muslim Army officer to be made Corps Commander of the strategic 15 corps which looks after Line of Control (LoC) area in the Valley.

Recalling his message when he took over a fortnight back, he said that heart will be 'army's weapon' and respect and dignity of every member of the Awam will be its slogan and philosophy to achieve an environment where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. "2011 is viewed as a year in which education, health and economic progress will be the hallmarks. The Kashmiri tradition of Sufiyat values -- nothing more than happiness -- and it is eternal happiness that the Chinar Corps wishes to each individual of the Awam in 2011," he said.

The Army "has always had the love of the Awam in peace and in calamity for which it is grateful," the General added. PTI
Army to enhance 'Awam-Jawan' relationship

Misuse of Military Uniforms

Do you agree that unauthorized wearing and misuse of Army Uniform is a big evil and promotes militancy?
AWFUL MISUSE AND HUMILIATION OF ARMY UNIFORM
The relevant text of some of the press reports from across the country depicting the dastardly acts of militants clad in Army uniform, the likes of which have been shaking up Armed Forces.

Militants in Army uniforms mowed down 25 villagers in Champanan. The act was repeated in Thakrai and Sarban villages near Kishtwar. Dressed in olive green Army uniforms, the ultras killed innocent villagers in cold blood. On its part, the administration had given several assurances that the recurrence of such incidents would be checked.

Once again, the militants used combat uniforms to gain entry into the residential area of the Army family quarters when they struck, killing 30 people and injuring another 50. When they boarded the Himachal Roadways bus near Vijaypur town early in the morning, all passengers took them to be bonafide Army personnel carrying weapons. As such, there was no reason for the passengers to panic. Later, when the militants asked the driver to stop near the Kalu Chak Army camp, he obliged thinking they had reached their unit area and wanted to get down. It was seconds later when they opened fire that the other passengers realized the gravity of the situation, but by then it was too late. The incident has highlighted the government’s failure to check the open and uncontrolled sale of cloth used for making Army uniforms in the markets throughout the region. Though district magistrates (DMs) of various districts have, from time to time, sought to check the sale of this cloth, their orders have remained mere words which were never enforced. The then Chief Minister, Mr Farooq Abdullah readily admitted the government’s failure to check the open sale of cloth used for making Army uniforms though it has been misused by the militants time and again. However, he said that henceforth, the government would pass such orders as would be strictly enforced and seek to punish the errant shopkeepers. The then Governor Girish Chander Saxena said going by the number of incidents in which militants wearing Army uniforms had carried out different types of attacks, it was imperative to ban the open sale of uniform cloth. Asked how such ban orders would be implemented when the government had failed to do so in the past, senior civil and police officials said if the government showed the will, they had the wherewithal to enforce the orders.

Stepping up violence, heavily-armed militants in military uniform stormed an Army camp killing seven jawans and injuring six others at Akhnoor.

One Brigadier and seven jawans were killed, and 12 injured when three militants in Army uniforms attacked an Army camp in Tanda, about 40km north of Jammu on the road to Poonch. The militants alighted from a vehicle and began firing at the security guards at the 610 EME Battalion Camp. They managed to enter deep inside the camp hurling grenades and opening indiscriminate fire, disguising themselves as Army personnel. The attack came less than 12 hours after an attack by Army uniform clad militants in Banganga near Katra in which six devotees were killed. The site is on the way to the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Just when reports in the media suggested that things were looking up in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K,) came a major suicide attack by Army uniform clad militants on an Army camp at Sanjwan near the state’s winter capital, Jammu. The attack came on the final day of the then President A P J Abdul Kalam’s visit to the region. Militants, dressed in Army uniforms, cut their way through fencing to enter the Army camp and then made their way to a barrack and shot dead about 12 sleeping Army personnel. The two militants were killed in the encounter that followed. A little-known group, the al-Nasireen, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian intelligence agencies, however, believe that the attack was masterminded by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and was made easy by the local shopkeepers selling various items of Army uniform.

In our country, most of the Security Guards at Malls, Hotels and Restaurants, Corporate Houses, Factories and other public places attire themselves in uniform which comprises of a number of items of Army uniform, and wear it in such a shoddy manner that it brings an awful disrepute to the uniformed soldiers and truly disgraceful.

Photographs, appearing in the newspapers, of the camps and hideouts of various militant groups disclose the rampant misuse of Army uniform by their cadres.

School and college going children adorn themselves in combat trousers or combat vests, not realizing an iota of the sanctity attached to the fabric.

Commercial film makers do the maximum damage. A comedian will attire himself in an Army uniform and conduct himself in such a disgraceful manner which certainly makes his character quite comic, but at a huge cost.

The nation pays tribute to a soldier who gives the supreme sacrifice of his life for safeguarding its territorial integrity, by draping his mortal remains in the National Tricolour before being laid to rest. Then why is his uniform subjected to extreme indignity and humiliation – the uniform which is a matter of pride for him from the day he joins the Army, the uniform to which he gives the utmost regards all throughout his life and the uniform in which he fights, breathes his last and sleeps forever, for the tomorrow of the nation.

We all as a nation need to take on the onerous responsibility of putting in concerted efforts to revive the respect and glory of the Army uniform. All the four estates of our democracy – the media, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, along with the ever important support of the citizens, need to combine to take this noble step, which will have far reaching consequences towards creation of a better nation, a nation – we all will be proud of.

Misuse of uniform attire is an area of major concern. Not only is it degrading the image of the Army and the Armed Forces in general, it is also a huge security risk, as anyone can manage to buy a uniform from the market. There are some steps that the government and police should institute to curb this menace. Sale of uniforms and other military material should be permitted only from authorized shops in the military cantonments. A rule should be legislated that forbids any civilian from wearing military uniforms and abusing them by putting the camouflage pattern cloth innate subjects such as suitcase covers. Anyone acting in contravention should be strictly dealt with by the law.

IPC
Sec 171. It reads...
171. Wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent. Whoever, not belonging to a certain class of public servants, wears any garb or carries any token resembling any garb or token used by that class of public servants, with the intention that it may be believed, or with the knowledge that it is likely to be believed, that he belongs to that class of public servants, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description, for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both

For this section to hold, the Army (or any other agency) needs to prove that the Police have a fraudulent intention. The police can easily put up a counter claim that they are wearing Army style camoflouge pattern because it is required for their operational duties as well. Also the police officers are not asking for the regular "Army Uniform" type dress, which may give an impression that the officer is from the Army. Where as a camouflage pattern would just indicate that the wearer is from some armed unit (be it police, army etc.) They are asking for a type of dress which suits their operational needs. This section how ever is relevant to private security agencies (or criminal imposters), who are not a government establishment and also do not undertake any jobs which the police or other military organisations undertake.

Sec 140 reads...
Whoever, not being a soldier, 1[sailor or airman] in the Military, 2[Naval or Air] service of the 3[Government of India], wears any garb or carries any token resembling any garb or token used by such a soldier, 1[sailor or airman] with the intention that it may be believed that he is such a soldier

The army here again would have to prove that the camouflage pattern is exclusively for Army personnel only. I do understand that if it is the case of the golden rank insignias, army cap badges, medal ribbons etc. this legal provision would hold good. Also here the Army needs to prove (the government officials, or court) that the police have a intention to claim that they are army men.

Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict: How Eelam War IV Was Won

Manekshaw Paper No. 22
Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict: How Eelam War IV Was Won: Maj Gen Ashok Mehta, AVSM (Retd)
How did Sri Lanka’s current generation of political and military leaders manage to pull off a brilliant but brutal military victory, defying all predictions and assessments that comprehensive battlefield success against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was not feasible? The synergy of political will, military doggedness, unrestrained resources, diplomatic agility and the backing of the majority Sinhalese community produced the winning formula that dared to spurn the calls for restraint and ceasefire from the Western world and humanitarian agencies. The best-kept secret is India’s decisive role in helping Colombo win the war.
The paper traces the background to the failed negotiations with the LTTE and the wars fought by earlier regimes to maintain a line of control that ran along Mannar-Vavuniya-Mullaithivu, yielding control from the North of this line to the Tigers, while ferociously guarding Trincomalee harbour in the east. The eastern and northern offensives culminated in the fateful ‘last battle’ fought on a coastal strip off Mullaithivu. It will be difficult for less resolute countries to replicate the elimination of a deadly guerilla force like the LTTE. Yet, for now, the ethnic conflict is far from over.
The full Mankeshaw Paper is in PDF format click here to locate the article in CLAWS webpage

Pakistan Terror Factories: Taliban behind Times Square incident

Sunday 09 May, 2010.

US said it has evidence that the Pakistani Taliban was behind last week's failed attempt to detonate a car bomb at Times Square in New York and that terror suspect Faisal Shahzad was "working at their direction".

The evidence has given new direction to the fight against terrorism, as investigations into the Times Square incident has revealed that the Pakistani Taliban has the "aim" and "capability" in carrying out attacks against the United States.

"We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack," US Attorney General Eric Holder told a news channel on Sunday.

"We know that they (Pakistani Taliban) helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that he (Shahzad) was working at their direction," he said.

30-year-old Shahzad, a Pakistani who became a naturalised US citizen, was arrested on Monday last for attempting to detonate the car bomb in New York.

The FBI has said that Shahzad, son of a former Pakistani Air Force officer, has admitted to attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's restive Waziristan tribal region.
US has evidence that Pak Taliban behind Times Square incident

Comment: Pakistan is home to all forms of Terrorists. How are these terrorists being financed and trained is the mute question which the world at large and India specifically needs to address! Is the Pakistan Government blind to the terrorist factories in their own land?

Headley twist in Andaman spy case, Army says hacking

Ref: click here
Headley twist in Andaman case, Army says hacking
New Delhi: The Army Major who was questioned by Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau officials last month—after it was found that sensitive defence information was being transmitted from his computer to Pakistan—came to the attention of authorities in the US following leads given by Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Coleman Headley.
What MI officials admit to at this stage even as the case is being investigated is that the officer seriously erred in saving classified information in his computer which was connected to the internet. Said a top official, "Given the recent cases of hacking in the Ministry of External Affairs and the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defence has issued regulations for such data and information not be downloaded on computers. The officer in question seriously erred in doing that and some administrative action will be taken against him shortly."
Source: Indian Express
Headley twist in Andaman case, Army says hacking

Dehradun: Ex-servicemen stage dharna

Ex-servicemen hold a protest at the Gandhi Park in Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Ex-servicemen stage dharna
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, April 18
Members of the Uttarakhand Porav Sainik Evam Ardh Sainik Sangthan held a sit-in at the Gandhi Park here today. The members were protesting against the irregularities committed at the Uttarakhand Poorav Sainik Kalyan Nigam (a government of Uttarakhand undertaking).

Later they submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister seeking action against the Managing Director of the undertaking.

President of the organisation Ganga Singh Rawat said they had even raised the issue with Union State Minister for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat.

He alleged that the organisation was working against the interest of the ex-servicemen.
Ex-servicemen stage dharna

Governor Margaret Alva presents a draft to Vineeta Bisht, wife of commando Gajender Singh Bisht who died in the Mumbai terrorist attack in Dehradun on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Martyr’s widow gets Rs 1,80,500
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, April 18
Margaret Alva, Governor, today handed over a draft of Rs 1,80,500 to Vineeta Bisht, widow of NSG commando Gajender Singh Bisht who lost his life in the terrorist attack of Mumbai 26/11.

A Maharashtra-based newspaper, as a gesture of compensation and support, gave the honorarium to the widow of the deceased. Alva also consoled the family of the martyr and remembered the sacrifice made by the Bisht family. Senior journalist SP Tiwari, Manjul Tiwari, VK Sharma and DK Joshi were also present to pay homage
Martyr’s widow gets Rs 1,80,500

IPS Officers need to lead from the front and not by flying flags from the rear

General Malik's arguments are entirely sustainable. In an earlier mail to you in reply to your mail, I have talked about an IPS which is a drag, not a service which can effectively police this nation. All the senior ranks of Indian paramilitary forces are manned by IPS officers, usually thoroughly politicised through their association with State politicians, always jockeying to equate themselves with their IAS colleagues in the States and at the Centre. Just look at the critical national security, intelligence, gubernatorial positions occupied by these gentlemen. They are imbued with all qualities except qualities of leadership in the field. Their cars fly flags and show stars which, to my knowledge, is not done by any other police force. These gentlemen wear badges of rank similar to army officers. Their Directors General are equated with Army Commanders in the field. Absolutely laughable if it were not so tragic in its all too evident consequences to nation's security. The IPS has been a thoroughly spoilt, inward looking, coccooned force, completely politicised, doing the bidding of their political masters in the States and at the Centre. How can such a service provide combat leadership in the field against well trained, combat hardened, well indoctrinated insurgents? General Malik has clearly visualised the prognosis. Bring in the already fully stretched army, with the dire consequences to the nation he anticipates. The Home Minister has spoken of deploying air power without thinking through the consequences of such precipitate action.

Time now to think calmly and clearly of what needs to be done to beef up our paramilitaries by training them for the very onerous task at hand, providing them with leadership in the field and at headquarters, leadership which understands its men, has their confidence and is ready to lead from the front. While this is being done which will take time, the existing PMF must hold the ring, at least contain the menace, not allowing it further successes of the kind it has registered of late. Can this be done? A good question the answer to which must depend on Central Competence.
Vice Admiral MP Awati (Retd)

India's Maoist rebel attack sparks anger

By Anuj Chopra, Correspondent / April 7, 2010
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram warned against kneejerk reactions as details emerged about how India’s Maoist rebels killed 76 policemen without taking a single casualty.

Chhattisgarh state Chief Minister Raman Singh, right in white, waits to place a wreath before the bodies of victims killed in Tuesday's Maoist attack at a hospital in Dantewada, India, Wednesday. India will push ahead with an offensive against Maoist rebels despite the death of 76 government troops in an ambush by insurgents in the east, the country's top security official said Wednesday. AP

The Maoists, also called Naxalites, who claim to fight for India’s poor, have battled the government for four decades. They have been labeled one of the top security threats in India, with a presence in 22 of 28 states. Despite a massive offensive launched against them last year across seven states, called Operation Greenhunt, they recently rejected an offer of peace negotiations.

“Something has gone very wrong,” India’s home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram admitted, but he cautioned against any “knee jerk” reaction to the attack.

Ambush, booby traps
According to Indian and Western media reports, a convoy of the Alpha company of the elite Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is involved in Operation Greenhunt in the state of Chhattisgarh, walked into a rebel trap while heading to a base. It is a rocky area enveloped by thick forest.

At dawn, more than 500 rebels, armed with a sophisticated inventory of weapons, besieged the convoy in their signature guerrilla style. They opened fire indiscriminately, threw grenades, and set off IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Fleeing soldiers fell over the mines and booby traps that the rebels had laid beforehand on the escape routes. Two sets of police reinforcements arrived on the scene, and also came under fire.

“Tuesday’s ambush was no low intensity affair,” said an editorial in The Indian Express, a national daily. “This is a large scale, if protracted war … Tuesday’s massacre is not to be construed as a warning or another small episode in a war of attrition.”

“Therefore, it is time to review Green Hunt: a tactical upgrade, even an overhaul,” it continued.

No reinforcements, for now
Mr. Chidambaram ruled out for now the possibility of bringing in the Army or Air Force to fight the Maoists, but pledged there would be no letup in the offensive.

“We think the state police assisted by Central paramilitary forces are sufficient to overcome the Naxalite threat. It is our present assessment of the threat,” he said. “But if necessary, we will have to revisit the mandate to make some changes.”
India's Maoist rebel attack sparks anger
Dantewada Massacre: Thorough military analysis needed- by Col Vijay Rajdhan dated 07 Apr 2010

The RMS Forum and Readers Salute the 76 CRPF brave hearts who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists. Our heartfelt condolences to all the family members.

Mumbai Mayhem: Headley's Confession Confirms Pak Handlers were State Players

26/03/2010
Headley confession shows close Al Qaeda, LeT ties: NYT
Washington: Pakistani-American terror suspect David Headley's confession about his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack reveals the close relationship between Al Qaeda and Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, according to a former CIA analyst.

Headley's revelations about an European cell of Al Qaeda were also disturbing, Bruce Riedel, who was a member of the National Security Council in the Clinton administration and is now at the Brookings Institution, was quoted as saying by the New York Times Friday.

They showed that "Al Qaeda still has a significant operational infrastructure somewhere in Europe", he said.

Details of Headley's activities, contained in his plea agreement with US authorities, "raise troubling questions about how an American citizen could travel for so long undetected from his home base in Chicago to well-established terrorist training camps in Pakistan", the Times said in a report from Islamabad.
Headley confession shows close Al Qaeda, LeT ties: NYT
Related news
By Ashida Vasudevan, 18/03/2010 Exclusive: Facing heat in the north, Maoists regrouping in south

Budget 2010-11 and its agenda to benefit con men of India

A superb analysis of the Budget document by Shri MR Venkatesh whose contributions to understanding the economy of India are well-known. This is a stunning expose that a Budget should be used as an instrument to protect con men (and con women) of India. Stashing away billions into tax havens abroad is no small matter. It runs into billions of dollars by the PM's own admission.
Please carefully read through this (sometimes technically challenging) document Budget 2010-11 and its agenda to benefit con men of India: click here .
It concerns the wealth of the nation which is being looted in larger quantum's, within 60 years of Independent India, than what the British colonial regime did in about 150 years.
Shocking state of affairs. Something is rotten in the state of Bharatam. Will patriotic Indians wake up and seek justice and swarajyam?
Kalyanaraman
Former Senior Executive
Asian Development Bank

DRDO to develop technologies to fight terrorists, insurgents

21/02/2010
DRDO to develop technologies to fight terrorists, insurgents
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of increasing terror threats and insurgency, the DRDO on Saturday said it has ventured into technologies to support security forces in operations, including against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) attacks.

DRDO chief V K Saraswat said his organisation has opened a Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) Division that would cater to weapons, equipment and life support systems for the paramilitary and police forces.

"Most of the wars in the 20th century are low-intensity conflicts, sub-conventional war, asymmetric warfare, counter-insurgency, and terrorism. These are going to be the emerging battle scenario. It is going to be the order of the day for the next 100 years.

"DRDO now has very focused programmes on technologies for low-intensity conflicts, which includes NBC weapons," Saraswat said at a media interaction on the eve of a three-day DRDO Director's Conference here.

He said the DRDO also launched another LIC-related programme with soldier-centric technologies with his "survivability, sustainability, efficiency and lethality" as the focus areas.

"For Futuristic Indian Soldier as a System (F-INSAS), we need technology for his armour, communication, psychological profile, life support, battle scenario devices, scanning devices and grenades. It will be a concerted programme," DRDO Chief Controller Dr W Selvamurthy, who was present, said.

"Most of these technologies are spin-offs. We already have technologies from our strategic weapons programme, which can be customised for LIC needs," Saraswat said.

Asked if the shift in focus would impact the DRDO's strategic weapons programme, he said it would not be so. This would be an incremental work to help the nation to achieve self-reliance in this niche area too, he added.

"Both (strategic and LIC programmes) are important. Strategic weapons, you cannot get from anywhere else. Nobody will give you the technology. It has to be developed internally. Most of the LIC technologies are also important," Saraswat added.

The DRDO chief said his organisation was a technology provider. "We (DRDO) identify in consultation with the Home Ministry as well as others, if there are gaps in certain areas such as foliage penetration or ground penetration, communication, jamming and communication interception systems, we would work on them and provide solutions," he added.

Asked if there were plans to dump the indigenous INSAS 5.56 mm rifle, the DRDO chief said there were no problems and the feedback received from troops suggested that the weapons were performing satisfactorily.

"The problems faced by troops must be a local perception nature, by some individual. But it is not a general perception," he said.

Source: The Indian Express
DRDO to develop technologies to fight terrorists, insurgents

National Security: India clueless on top al-Qaeda leader’s visit

Praveen Swami

Key foreign jihadists aided by systemic gaps in security

Mohammed’s visit to India has been public knowledge for several years

In Malaysia, he forged a pact that provided base for terror attacks across East Asia and the West

NEW DELHI: Al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who allegedly had tactical control of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, made at least one visit to India in 1996, documents show.

But, The Hindu has found, India’s intelligence services made no effort to determine when he came, what travel documents he used, where he stayed and with whom he met with.

The Union Home Ministry has blamed lax visa procedures for the clandestine reconnaissance by Pakistani-American jihadist David Headley prior to the November 2008 Lashkar-e-Taiba Mumbai terror attacks. But the poor investigative follow-up of Mohammed’s visit suggests there are serious systemic gaps in the country’s internal security.

Mohammed’s visit to India has been public knowledge for several years. Following a meeting with Osama bin-Laden in mid-1996, the official Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States says, Mohammed “journeyed onward to India, Indonesia, and Malaysia.”

Testimony
Later, in the now-declassified testimony given to the Combatant Status Review Tribunal at Guantanamo Bay on March 10, 2007, Mohammed admitted he was “responsible for surveying and financing the destruction of the Israeli embassy in India, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Indonesia.”

In Malaysia, Mohammed met with Jemaah Islamiyyah chief Riduaan Islamuddin, forging an alliance that provided the foundation for several terrorist attacks across East Asia and the west. And in the Philippines, he set up “Operation Bojinka,” a plot to blow up 12 airliners carrying passengers from Asia to the U.S.

But Indian investigators failed to explore evidence that corroborates Mohammed’s claims that al-Qaeda was engaged in targeting India prior to the September 11 attacks.

Back in August 2001, the Delhi Police filed charges against Sudan national Abdul Raouf Hawas for conspiring to blow up the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. Hawas, the police claimed, was linked to al-Qaeda operative Muhammed Omar al-Harazi, also known as Abdul Rehman al-Safani.

Pakistani Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami operative Qamar Mohammad Ayub, held by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in December, 2001, was also alleged to have been working to facilitate an al-Qaeda attack on the Israeli mission in New Delhi.

Many jihadist leaders in the past have escaped scrutiny by Indian immigration and internal security authorities.

For example, Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Mohammad Masood Azhar arrived in New Delhi from Dhaka, using an illegally-obtained Portuguese passport, on January 29, 1994. “The duty officer at the Indira Gandhi airport,” he later told interrogators, “commented that I did not look Portuguese. However, when I told him I was Gujarati by birth, he did not hesitate to stamp my passport.”

Lack of surveillance meant that no credible prosecution could be mounted against the jihadist leader, who was eventually released in a hostages-for-prisoners swap after the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet in 1999.

Lashkar-e-Taiba financier Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a Saudi Arabia national, later sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, also travelled in and out of India until at least 1999. He is known to have met with Lashkar clandestine operative Mohammad Ishtiq at the President Hotel in Mumbai. Precisely how Bahaziq obtained an Indian visa remains unknown.
India clueless on top al-Qaeda leader’s visit
The Hindu: India clueless on top al-Qaeda leader’s visit

Comment
MEA staff dealing with issuance of Passports and Visa's must be brought into the National Security Loop. All those found taking bribes in India and Foreign countries must be reigned in and convicted under special and sterner laws governing Security of the Nation and counter- terrorism. There is urgent need to reduce clerical staff in all Indian Consulates and Passport Offices by use of modern digital paperless technologies and Officers solely made accountable for corruption and security lapses.

Can India unearth Money Launderers who fuel World Terrorism?

India, Switzerland to renegotiate tax treaty
October 21, 2009 17:05 IST
The government on Tuesday said it would renegotiate the taxation treaty with Switzerland under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Model Tax Convention.

"...There is a provision in OECD...The article 26," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters when asked about the proposed talks with Swiss authorities later this year.

The negotiations are expected to take place in the wake of the issue of black money stashed away in Swiss banks that has created a political furore in the country, and India has sought details related to the same from Swiss authorities.

OECD sets the international tax standards. Article 26 of the OECD Model Convention on Income and Capital, covers "tax of every kind and description" and allows for exchange of tax-related information between two countries.

In August, Mukherjee had said that India and Switzerland would meet in December to negotiate amendments in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The Swiss banks in August had said that India could not come on a fishing expedition for secret bank account details.

Mukherjee had later made it clear that India was not interested in a "roving inquiry" over unaccounted money stashed away in Swiss banks.

The Swiss Ambassador to India had recently said that Switzerland was willing to open negotiations on disclosing data information about black money. "Switzerland will completely live up to the legitimate expectations out of the treaty... For release of data in the future. The (amended) treaty would be possibly adapted, revived and then we will live up to the new obligations...," he had told a private news channel.

According to him, most probably Indians would ask for the inclusion of tax evasion in the set of provisions of the treaty, which would mean that the release of data would be possible.
India, Switzerland to renegotiate tax treaty: October 21, 2009 17:05 IST

Can India match US- IRS in unearthing money launderers?

Swiss Banking Terror is more dangerous than Pakistan- Taliban Terror
Swiss banking giant UBS will give the IRS the details of more than the client accounts under a deal to end a contentious international lawsuit. Keystone/Walter Bieri/AP/File
IRS cracks open 4,450 Swiss bank accounts
Deal with Swiss banking giant UBS gives access to 4,450 secret accounts of Americans evading tax authorities.