Start over: A dose of realistic diplomacy is overdue.

HEART of Asia conference at Amritsar, attended by 14 participating and over two dozen supporting countries was jointly inaugurated on December 4 by Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and India’s PM Narendra Modi. It brought diplomatic theatre to Punjab and transitory focus on the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. It also stirred, to borrow from Marcel Proust, remembrance of things past. Firstly, the visit of Afghan President and PM Modi to the Golden Temple, the foundation of which was laid by Hazrat Mian Mir, a Sufi saint, on December 28, 1588, was a great opportunity missed to bury past hurts. While Sikh religion rose from the reformist Bhakti movement, it was chiselled by resisting religious persecution by some Mughal rulers and Afghan marauders in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The Golden Temple, often targeted, was eventually defiled and destroyed by Afghans under ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali. His raid of 1764 to target Sikhs, their holy places, particularly Amritsar, is etched in Sikh memory. Thus reducing President Ghani’s Golden Temple visit to a photo-op in the parikarma with PM Modi, without his expressing regret then or next morning, when he addressed the conference, was a great historical opportunity lost for contextualising Afghanistan’s current battle against the Taliban or the entire Islamic world’s struggle with radical Islam. After all, the Taliban destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas or ISIS now levelling churches or old monuments in Syria were displaying the same bigotry that Muslim despoilers of Indian places of worship showed in centuries past or even the Catholic Inquisition did in Portuguese occupied Goa of that period. It took a courageous German Chancellor Willy Brandt to kneel at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising monument on December 7, 1970, to kick-start the debate in Germany to take ownership for the sins of their Nazi past. Secondly, the rubric ‘Amritsar Declaration’ ignored that the 1994 declaration issued from Akal Takht demanding autonomy for Sikhs is also so titled. Ironically, while that resolution sought a looser federation in India, the present declaration seeks closer integration in the entire region from Central to Southern Asia. It ignores two critical elements. One, globally the trend is towards de-globalisation and protectionism, particularly in the West and the US, where benefits of regional integration are being questioned. Two, the heart of the matter is distrust amongst nations of the region, particularly between India and Pakistan, without which connectivity and trade cannot develop. The Heart of Asia conference was envisioned in 2011 to create a framework for discussion amongst neighbours of Afghanistan, as the declaration states, to increase ‘trust and confidence in the entire region’. This was to ensure that Afghanistan did not relapse into the post-1990 civil war between surrogates of neighbouring powers. It is common sense to conclude that to make Afghanistan economically self-reliant and wean it away from the narco-terror cycle of financing it needs to connect to regional trade and investment pathways. The Amritsar Declaration recognises this and addresses it in two parts. One deals with existing challenges; and the other on how to achieve prosperity. The former highlights the intermingling of terrorism, narcotics and radicalised Islam and exhorts participants to use national means and international commitments to counter that threat. The latter envisions connectivity and free trade across the entire region, based on the linking of existing and planned road, rail and port developments. For instance, the Indian trilateral agreement with Afghanistan and Iran for the development of Chabahar Port and the Chinese One Belt, One Road initiative are but two of a maze of currently separate ventures connecting China and Russia to Central Asia and further to South Asia. At the heart of this vision for a new Asia lie India-Pakistan relations, bedevilled by distrust and rivalry. At Amritsar, India caught Pakistan in a pincer move between President Ghani alleging that without Pakistani help the Taliban could not survive and India’s own lament that Pakistan must stop exporting terror and using it as an adjunct to their foreign policy. Although South block denied any meeting with Pakistan’s de facto foreign minister Sartaj Aziz, it is unbelievable that messages would not have been exchanged. If that did not happen, it was another opportunity lost as no muscular policy towards Pakistan can work without keeping the door open for ascertaining what effect, if any, the policy is having on Pakistan’s thinking. The Amritsar Declaration signals emerging consensus amongst Afghanistan’s neighbours that a stable Afghanistan is a condition precedent for a stable region. This cannot be achieved unless rivalries and zero-sum gaming are abandoned. Pakistan, in particular, has to reconcile that an independent government in Kabul will deal with other neighbours, including India. Furthermore, the region will not allow a regression to the Taliban era with Pakistani veto over who ran Kabul.  Para 14 of the Amritsar Declaration lists terrorist groups endangering the region, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad which are ISI-sponsored groups for targeting India. This gave India bragging rights on cornering Pakistan as China has been stalling the listing of their leaders by the UN Security Council.The question however remains about Indian strategy in dealing with the troublesome neighbour. The so- called ‘surgical strike’ has failed to deter Pakistan otherwise there would not have been beheadings of Indian soldiers at the LoC or the Nagrota attack. India can either escalate retaliatory strikes, by weapons fire or actual intrusion, hoping the Pakistan army will eventually sue for peace. Alternatively, India could give some time and space to the new chief of Pakistan army staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to see if he modulates his army’s tactics by putting the terror modules on leash, albeit temporarily. Assuming President-elect Donald Trump’s benediction or Chinese President Xi’s restraint, despite provoking him in Arunachal Pradesh, is poor strategising. As a rising power, beset currently with demonetisation disruption, it is not in India’s interest to escalate tension. All talks are not kowtowing, nor is chest-thumping a strategy. A dose of realistic diplomacy all around is overdue. The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs

Beijing’s first-ever carrier Liaoning forays into South China Sea

The Liaoning sails during military drills in the Pacific.

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 29

The ‘Asian aircraft carrier race’ now has a new dimension. The Chinese Navy’s first-ever sea-borne carrier, the Liaoning, has made its first foray in deep waters and docked at a bay in the disputed South China Sea.Purchased from Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union, the first-ever deep sea sail of the Liaoning was being watched with great interest in strategic circles in India, the US, Japan and Russia besides the countries which are locked in a dispute with China over territorial issues in South China Sea that is rich in hydro-carbons.The sail also means India, Japan and China now have a ‘flat-deck’ that can carry fighter jets which can further hit target at sea or land. As of now, India is the leader with 50 years of experience in operating sea-borne aircraft carriers while Japan, for the first time since World War-II, has made flat-deck warships but doesn’t call them ‘aircraft carriers’. China is the newest entrant. India’s INS Vikramaditya, a 46,000 tonne ship, is fully operational.A race between India and China to secure resources such as oil, minerals, natural gas and coal will be backed by keeping sea lanes open.For India, China’s intension to station the Liaoning in the disputed South China Sea — the only trade route between India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — will be vital.Beijing has an added advantage. Its deep ties with Pakistan and Burma, besides supply bases in Sri Lanka, can be useful for deployment of Chinese carriers in the Indian Ocean, placing its navy in waters which form a core interest for New Delhi.The third dimension is Japan. Following the end of World War-II and defeat of the Imperial Japan Navy, the Japanese Constitution in 1945 banned the making of aircraft carriers, but recently lifted it.In March 2015, Japan commissioned the 24,000-tonne flat-deck called Izumo for carrying 14 helicopters. It can easily carry and operate the vertical takeoff F-35B joint strike fighters being developed by the US.Meanwhile, the US adds the fourth dimension with its ‘super carriers’ of USS Nimitz class — each weighing over 1 lakh tonnes and nuclear powered — in Asian waters. President Barack Obama had announced in 2011 the rebalance of US naval assets that would entail stationing 60 per cent of its sea-going fleet in Asia-Pacific. 

India leads

• India is the leader with 50 years of experience in operating sea-borne aircraft carriers while Japan, for the first time since World War-II, has made flat-deck warships but doesn’t call them ‘aircraft carriers’
• For India, China’s intension to station the Liaoning in the South China Sea — the only trade route between India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations — will be vital

Must stand behind new army chief: Raha

Dehradun: Lt General Santosh Kumar Upadhya has been appointed as the new Commandant of the Indian Military Academy (IMA). An alumnus of the National Defence Academy and IMA, he was commissioned in 1981 in the 13th Battalion of Garhwal Rifles.
Lt Gen Santosh Kumar Upadhya took over as the 47th Commandant of the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, today. A decorated soldier, Lt Gen Upadhya is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy. Thereafter, he was commissioned into the 13th Battalion the Garhwal Rifles in December 1981. During his three-decade plus career, he has varied experience.He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, College of Defence Management, and National Defence College and recipient of Sena Medal (Distinguished), Vishisht Seva Medal, Chief of the Army Staff Commendation Card and GOC-in-C’s Commendation Card. Apart from commanding his battalion brigade and division, he has held varied staff and instructional appointments and twice served with the United Nations in Rwanda and Cote D’lvoire. He has a rich experience of raising new organisations, first at Officers Training Academy, Gaya, and then at the helm of an Infantry Division as part of Mountain Strike Corps. He was Additional Director General, Procurement at the Army HQ, New Delhi, before assuming the present appointment. — TNS

After the surgical strikes, while the ruling clique took to rhetoric to maximise electoral mileage, the Opposition too fared badly. It wanted visible proof of the Army strikes, thereby casting doubts on the credentials of the Army. The worst part of politicisation is the manner in which politicians jump onto live shouting matches on the electronic media.

Cashing in on surgical strikes: Workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bhopal offer laddoos to a poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They were celebrating the surgical strikes by the Army to avenge the Uri Attack. PTI.

OF all the dimensions of modern warfare, the “battle of the mind” takes precedence. If we cannot win the challenge this poses, all other dimensions that support warfare like technology, armaments, strategy, tactics, will have a limited effect. In the final analysis, a positive mind is an imperative that will drive the brawn to do the unachievable. The mind plays a dominant role over morale, the most important battle-winning factor. A positive mind will lead to high morale. Morale is built over a long process by inculcating soldierly traits through holistic training. From this, a soldier imbibes confidence in himself, his physical prowess, ability to effectively handle weapons and develop intense camaraderie. He is motivated and strengthened psychologically by battle-worthy wherewithal and sound military leadership at all levels. For his psychological conditioning, of equal importance is a reassurance that the entire nation stands by him. His needs will be met and if he returns wrapped in the Tricolour, he will be remembered and his family will be cared for in every way required by a grateful nation. While the soldier has delivered on his oath, have the nation and society too played a complementary role?The target of all psychological warfare is the mind. It is planned very consciously by employing falsehoods, distorting facts, negative exaggeration of situations and using every possible means to create dissent within the adversary population and finally to demoralise the armed forces and weaken its battle worthiness. The game gets played very deliberately but subtly; through media manipulation, by word of mouth with whispering campaigns and today, in an unrestricted way through cyberspace. Cyberspace is neutral territory for everyone and governments the world over have no control over this. Nations, including the US, Russia and China, have tried but failed. Exploitation of cyberspace can yield out-of-proportion gains for the exploiter, especially for non-state actors. The Isis has spread the call for a caliphate, dreaded hate culture and attracted recruits from the world over through cyberspace. The Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani took to the Internet. The media turned him into a youth icon and after he was killed impetus was given to unrest in the Valley, mostly by exploiting social media. Cyberspace enables unlimited and unhindered opportunities to field fake videos, morphed photos and spread disinformation, particularly of human rights’ violations. This make-believe scenario leads to immense pressure on soldiers, especially on their leaders. Countering these falsehoods is not easy as there are any number of Human Rights Organisations, individuals and “Trojan Horses,” who without bothering to check on the veracity of information target the security forces. Society cannot remain oblivious to such propaganda and must understand that only a united national effort can enable our soldiers to boost their morale and win the mind game. Post the tragedy at Uri, the intent of the Army was very clear, to strike back at the place and time of its choosing. It was no empty boast but a definite intent and they struck back on selected targets with phantom-like stealth, destroyed the targets with combat effectiveness, left no tell-tale signs besides fulfilling their ethos of “leaving no one behind.” The only difference from many such previous strikes was that the government of the day declared that we did it. The nation acknowledged this action and the short-term praise for the Army with shouts of “let us stand by our soldiers” was possibly the only positive reinforcement in the mind game. Negativity was the hallmarke of all other reactions, particularly the politicisation of the surgical strikes. The Defence Minister repeatedly termed the action as the “first-ever surgical strike”, made statements like the Army not knowing its “Hanuman-like capabilities” till he arrived on the scene or crediting the surgical strikes to RSS teachings. Professionalism and secularity of the Army was discredited. Political hullabaloo with absolute indiscretion took centre stage and an acrimonious debate followed. All the boasts by the government of having taught Pakistan a lesson proved wrong. Terrorists continued their nefarious game, including inhuman acts of beheading two of our soldiers. After that came the strike at Nagrota, on an area housing the families of soldiers. No lesson has been learnt by the politicians and their tamasha has resurfaced. While the ruling clique took to rhetoric to maximise electoral mileage, the Opposition too fared badly wanting visible proof of the Army strikes thereby casting doubts on the credentials of the Army. The worst part of the politicisation sets in as the politicians jump onto the bandwagon of the unrelenting live shouting matches over electronic media. Guest speakers from Pakistan relish and smirk at our infighting and spread anti-India venom by being paid for it. Our Pakistan-centric focus goes unabated. See how currently the credentials of the new Pakistan army chief have been covered. We have managed to give the enemy an upper hand at the mind game.It is a must for society to have an attitudinal change in order to contribute tremendously to enable the soldiers morale to be boosted, especially by segments which have grown larger than life with huge fan followings such as cricketers and Bollywood. In the world of sports, play goes on as usual but there is always a token remembrance as a tribute to the victims of a tragedy before a game begins.The gesture of the cricketers to display the name of their mother on their shirt before the India-New Zealand was indeed a welcome salute to mothers. Had they added a salute to the martyrs by observing a two-minute silence and donning a black ribbon on the cap or sleeve in front of live crowds and millions glued to the television to watch, the effect on the viewers would have been electrifying. Post-Uri, Bollywood stars embroiled themselves in an unnecessary controversy over the expulsion of Pakistani actors. While some actors vehemently opposed this, others countered this view vociferously and many decided to sit on the fence. When the need was to show solidarity with the nation they wanted to remain undisturbed in their cocoons.The view that actors, cultural exchanges and the like must not be affected by terrorist-related happenings is deplorable. Tomorrow if all writers, journalists, activists, lawyers and all other non-military professionals think and feel similarly, then what? Political one-upmanship, with gimmicks like having photo ops with troops, launching the antic of #sandesh2soldiers and sending the lady ministers on a rakhi-tying spree are unfruitful activities. Politicians of all hues should give a push to provide the armed forces the wherewithal needed to battle and urgently make up the critical deficiencies of equipment to reduce their casualties. Major concerns of (lowering status, pay and allowances, pensions and disability) and the ever-elusive war memorial must be resolved. There seems to be no time for this. The realisation must dawn on politicians and society that all this makes the soldiers question the apathy towards them. Patriotism and sacrifice is the responsibility of every citizen of our country. We must learn that strengthening the mind of the soldier is of vital importance for his morale and final victory.The writer is a former Commandant of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun & former Chairman, Punjab Public Service Commission.

Second such unpublicised meet between two sides; third high-level talks in five weeks

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 15

A couple of meetings have been conducted between the top leadership of the Indian Army and a delegation of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China led by senior General last week.The meetings, conducted in New Delhi and Kolkata, and the visit have been kept under wraps, but sources confirmed to The Tribune that the Commander of the PLA’s western theatre, Gen Zhao Zongqi, and his delegation was in India for three days — December 8 to 10.This was the second unpublicised high-level meeting after the annual defence dialogue (ADD) between India and China was conducted without even a word being spoken about it in public on November 8. Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar and Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission, had met in Delhi. The latest round of meetings is the third engagement between the two neighbours in the past five weeks.Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag had led a military delegation to China on a four-day (Nov 21-Nov 24) visit.The Western theatre of PLA, carved out following a rejig in November last, covers Xinjiang and Tibet—it is tasked all along the entire 3,488 km un-demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC) that is the de-facto boundary with India.The Chinese delegation during its visit to Kolkata met Lt Gen Parveen Bakshi, the Eastern Army Commander and the seniormost commander after General Suhag. In Delhi, Vice Chief of Indian Army Lt Gen Bipin Rawat hosted a banquet for the Chinese delegation and also held talks.The two sides exchanged views on military-to-military relations between the two countries, especially the cooperation between the PLA Western Theatre Command and the Indian military. The PLA Western theatre has some 4.5 lakh troops, tanks fighter jets, artillery regiments and India matches almost the same number all along the Himalayan divide running in an east-west axis.The two sides agreed to jointly implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries in May last year when a joint statement at Beijing, after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, had spoken about the need to “expand the exchanges between the border commanders, and establish border personnel meeting points at all sectors of the India-China border areas”.

Chinese Commander visits Kolkata, Delhi

• Commander of PLA’s western theatre Gen Zhao Zongqi visited India from December 8 to 10. He met Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Parveen Bakshi in Kolkata and Vice-Chief of Army Lt Gen Bipin Rawat in Delhi
• On November 8, Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar and deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission Sun Jianguo met quietly in Delhi

India and China now have a new bone to quarrel over. Days after the Dalai Lama left Dharamsala for a four-day trip to Ulaanbaatar, China decided to punish Mongolia for the effrontery. It imposed a toll on every Mongolian truck passing through Chinese territory. As 90 per cent of its trade is with China, the sanctions hurt Mongolia and it appealed to India for help. Last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ulaanbaatar and promised a $1 billion aid package. Mongolia wants India to activate this package at a time of financial distress. China interprets this as interference in its attempt to chastise Mongolia.Nationalists had not yet finished rejoicing over this South Block masterstroke of riling China when trucks crossed the Chinese border into Nepal on a new rail-road cargo route via Tibet to Kathmandu. Official reactions in India have viewed China’s cargo service with Nepal as a threat to the sale of Indian goods. China then reopened old wounds when it responded to Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s statement that India’s bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) should not be given a “political colour”. Beijing said it was not changing its positions on both India’s entry into NSG and the lock on the UN listing Masood Azhar as a terrorist. The highly unpredictable US President-elect Donald Trump has already stirred the regional waters. He accepted a congratulatory call from the Taiwanese President, breaking a vital condition for maintaining normalcy in Sino-US affairs. If Trump plans to take China head-on, then South Block may have placed its bets correctly by confronting China in Mongolia. But India will then have to accept greater Chinese presence in its neighbourhood. Regardless of which way the Trump penny drops, both India and China need not be too touchy. Beijing should welcome India’s interest in Mongolia as an example of its participation to promote economic development of areas near China. India must have an open-minded attitude towards China’s cooperation with South Asian countries. The world is set to suffer some disorder while Trump settles down as US President. India and China can avoid adding to that.

WHY DOES THE POLITICAL CLASS IN INDIA CONTINUES TO SUFFER FROM THE MANIA OF A MILITARY COUP WHEN THE COUNTRY’S ARMY IS MOST DISCIPLINED AND ITS ETHOS DEEPLY IMBEDDED IN DEMOCRATIC TRADITION

Right from Independence, Indian politician has been obsessed with the thought of a military coup. This thought persisted with the first Indian Prime Minister, which made him believe that the country could do without its military and that the police were good enough to handle security, both in its internal and external dimension. This was so even though India had to go to war in Kashmir in the very year of its Independence.

Therefore, Mamata Banerjee’s hallucination of a military coup, on seeing half-a-dozen men in military uniform and without weapons at a toll plaza, is understandable. These men were merely carrying out a routine yearly exercise to check availability of civil transport in the event of general mobilisation of the nation’s military. Army does not have enough transport to cart to the country’s borders, all the necessary stores, ammunition and personnel in the event of mobilisation and therefore, this need to requisition civil transport for this purpose and consequent collection of related data. Mamata took it upon herself to defend Indian democracy against this purported coup by holding fort single-handedly, at the state secretariat building.

WHY FEAR OF A COUP?

Why does the political class in India continue to suffer from this paranoia of a military coup when the country’s army is most disciplined and its ethos deeply imbedded in democratic tradition? Who has been poisoning the political might and constantly frightening it of the possibility of a military coup? Is it the intelligence agencies in the country who, to promote their own cause, keep injecting this fear of a coup in the political mind or the bureaucracy, which in order to retain its hold on the political class, keeps this fear alive with the added aim of keeping military under unwanted checks etc.

MEDIA’S PARANOIA

Even some elements in the press suffer from this paranoia of a military coup. It may be recalled that during General VK Singh’s age row, a newspaper of national standing put out the outline of a military coup in the making, in flaming headlines on its front page. The then defence secretary, who was abroad, had to rush back and called the Director General of Military Operations to explain the developing situation, purportedly heading for a coup.

The IMA was abuzz with elation, enthusiasm and emotion after the passing-out parade in Dehradun on Saturday. photos: Vinod pundir

Himanshu Kumar Lall

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 10

As many as 454 Gentleman Cadets (GCs) of 139 Regular Course and 122 Technical Graduate Course, including 53 foreign Gentleman Cadets from eight foreign countries took the ‘Antim Pag’ (final step) at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in an impressive passing-out parade here today.Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen NPS Hira reviewed the parade.The parade began with a march at the drill square in front of the Chetwode Hall. The parade commander, Academy Cadet Adjutant (ACA) Pratyush Kumar Mohanty, along with GCs in different contingents, entered into the drill square. The cadets exhibited their flawless drill skills in a ceremonial march past on the tunes of ‘Col Bogey and Sare Jahan Se Achacha’.Lt Gen Hira, while addressing the cadets, said the passing-out day was historic for Gentlemen Cadets. The precise and steady drill movements enthused me to congratulate GCs on their impeccable turnout, outstanding bearing and exceptional standard of drill, he said. “GCs should leave no stone unturned to maintain high standards of commitment, courage and compassion while serving the country,” he said.The Sword of Honour and bronze medal for standing third in the order of merit was awarded to ACA Pratyush Kumar Mohanty, while the gold medal for standing first in the overall order of merit was presented to BUO Malla Rama Gopal Naidu. The silver medal for standing second was presented to BUO Suyash Gupta. The silver medal for standing first in the order of merit from Technical Graduate Course was presented to JUO Deepak Singh and the silver medal for standing first in the order of merit from Foreign GCs was presented to TUO George Prince Karki.The Chief of Army Staff Banner was awarded to Alamein Company for bagging the title of overall first among 16 companies for the autumn term 2016.Emotion ran high among cadets’ parents, relatives and friends as it was a proud moment for them as well.IMA Commandant Lt Gen SK Saini, Deputy Commandant Maj Gen Mandip Singh and serving and retired officers were present.

The Congress vice president wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi, 

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday questioned Modi government’s resolve to work for soldiers’ welfare, asking the Prime Minister to first implement the ‘one rank, one pension’ scheme in a meaningful way and redress their pay anomalies and other grievances.The Congress vice president wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was saddened at the decisions of the government taken in the last few weeks “which are far from reassuring the soldiers and has caused them pain instead”.Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing “our gratitude both in words and in deed”, Rahul said in his letter to the Prime Minister who has launched a campaign through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation’s frontiers to boost their morale.The PM will celebrate this Diwali with ITBP personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.”Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability,” the Congress leader said.”OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation,” Rahul said, claiming that some decision of the government have “adversely affect the morale of our armed forces”.The Prime Minister had earlier accused Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a paltry sum of Rs 500 crore for it.Rahul said, “As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people.””I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees,” he said.Rahul said that the roll out of 7th Pay Commission continues to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage and further exacerbates the disparity between them and civil employees.”As we celebrate Diwali, and rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, let us send this message to our soldiers that our gratitude is expressed both in words and in deed.This is the very least we owe to those who give up their today to secure our tomorrow,” the letter further said. — PTI