Sanjha Morcha

Eighth Indo- Maldives joint military exercise concludes

Eighth Indo- Maldives joint military exercise concludes
Photo for representation only.

Bengaluru (Karnataka), December 29A closing ceremony to mark the culmination of 14 days joint training between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Forces was held at Belgaum in Karnataka.The event was held at Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre on Thursday where the marching contingent of both the countries participated in the closing ceremony.Fly past done by the army aviation team, carrying flags of both the countries, was also a highlight of the closing ceremony.In addition to the formal march past, there were a number of cultural programs like Kalaripayattu by the Madras Regimental Centre, Malkhamb by the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre, Khukri Combat Display by the Gorkhas and the Assam Regimental Centre showcasing their North East Warrior skills.The audience was also left mesmerised by the aerobic display by the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre and Boduberu display by the Maldivian National Defence Forces.The grand ceremony culminated with a pipe and drum band night display by the sirmoor rifles.Brigadier Alok Khurana, the senior most military observer of the Indian Army said that the exercise has honed individual and collective professional skills of all participants by imbibing best practices of both the Armies and has served to reinforce the close ties of friendship between the two countries.He appreciated the team spirit, camaraderie and high motivation shown by the participants throughout these two weeks.Brigadier General Ali Zuhair, senior observer of the Maldivian National Defence Force addressed all participants and complimented them on the successful completion of the exercise.He also praised them for the high standards of professionalism displayed during conduct of the exercise and thanked the Indian Army in organising the training in a highly professional manner.The exercise has further enhanced the military relation and cooperation between the two forces. Both the contingents exchanged mementoes and resolved to continue this joint exercise in the future. — ANI.


Army pays tributes to jawan killed in Gurez avalanche

Army pays tributes to jawan killed in Gurez avalanche
15 Corps GOC Lt Gen JS Sandhu pays tribute to Sepoy Moorthy N at Badamibagh Cantonment in Srinagar on Friday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 22

The Army on Friday paid tributes to a soldier who had gone missing from a forward post in remote Gurez sector last month and was later found dead.The body of Sepoy Moorthy N, 33, was found on December 19 and transported to Badamibagh Cantonment in Srinagar from where it was airlifted to his home.He had gone missing on December 11 during heavy snowfall along with two other soldiers Lance Naik Marigendra Nath Pramanik and Sepoy Shiv Singh, whose bodies were sent home on Wednesday this week.At the ceremonial farewell held at Badamibagh Cantonment, which houses the headquarters of 15 Corps, senior army officers led by Corps Commander Lt Gen JS Sandhu paid tributes to the soldier.The sepoy, who was part of an Operational Team which was serving in the formidable heights along the Line of Control in the Gurez sector, had got swept away in a snow slide. The Army said concerted efforts of the specially equipped Avalanche Rescue Teams led to the recovery of his body on Tuesday this week.The soldier was had donned the uniform in 2004 and hailed from Nathipatti village in Tamil Nadu’s Karur district. He is survived by his wife and two sons.Two soldiers injured in mine blast in Poonch Rajouri: Two soldiers of Naga unit were injured seriously when one of them reportedy stepped on an abandoned mine in a forward location in Poonch district on Friday. Sources said the soldiers were patrolling a forward location in the Gulpur sector when an abandoned mine blasted off under the foot of one of the soldiers. The injured have been identified as Sepoy W Thung and Sepoy Rakesh. The soldiers, who have splinter injuries in their eyes and on the face, were immediately taken to the Army hospital in Poonch and later airlifted to Command hospital at Udhampur. OC


Vijay Diwas : A fine reminder of national commitment by Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain

16 Dec (Vijay Diwas) every year is an important date for India and the Indian people. It symbolizes success, patriotism and commitment. It also acts as a reminder that we have achieved much as a nation and need to remain united and positive for the future while working to take India to its destined position in the world.
For many of us of the generation which was then in existence the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971 generates nostalgia. It was a time when the Indian polity was at its best providing the required leadership in a crisis situation. The political opposition and government worked as one to back the Indian Armed Forces. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave the Army Chief General (later Field Marshal) Sam Manekshaw the required freedom of action which any military requires and the armed forces delivered as per the trust reposed in them. The year 1971 is all about heroics of the armed forces. Whether it was Major Hoshiyar Sing PVC, 2/Lt Arun Khetarpal, PVC, L/Nk Albert Ekka PVC, Fight Lt Nirmaljit Sekhon, PVC or Capt MN Mulla, MVC, all of them are etched in memory as national heroes. Battles such as Basantar, Tangail (Dacca), Hilli, Akhaura or Naya Chor   have become part of military heritage. The photograph of Lt Gen AAK Niazi, Pakistan Army’s overall commander in the then East Pakistan, surrendering before Lt Gen Jagjit Aurora at Dacca adorns the walls of many military museums today splendidly conveying the achievement of India and its armed forces. In less than 14 days of focused battle the Indian Army supported ably by the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, cut through the heavily defended fortresses of the Pakistan Army and reached the outskirts of Dacca. It was a strategy now recognized as brilliant. The Indian Army simultaneously held and maneuvered around the Pakistani defenses penetrating the heartland and reached the center of gravity, Dacca. The Pakistan Army had enough forces and wherewithal to fight a battle to the end but prudence prevailed as India’s political, diplomatic and military pressure mounted. The combined effect of the latter had the required psychological effect and the Pakistan Army surrendered en masse; 93,000 prisoners fell into Indian hands. They were protected from lynch mobs, safely transported to the Indian mainland and housed in the Army’s barracks which acted as Prisoner of War camps. All principles of the Geneva Convention were followed and India’s image received a boost.
It was unfortunate that the sagacity and strategic maturity displayed in the handling of the 1971 conflict with Pakistan did not travel to the conference table when in 1972 the leadership’s of the two countries met at Shimla for peace talks. While the restoration of status quo ante on the western borders was still an acceptable deal the return of the 93000 prisoners without gaining anything was a strategic blunder.  The Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) issue was still live and a better handling of the bargains at Shimla could have possibly resolved things for the future. The Indian military’s opinion was perhaps not sought on the misplaced notion that the post conflict deliberations were a political-diplomatic responsibility with no role for the military. While India helped create the independent nation of Bangladesh through a resounding military victory the victory appeared incomplete without a matching achievement on the conference table at Shimla. Ironically India only extracted from Pakistan an assurance that J&K would be resolved between the two countries through mutual consultation. We are aware how Pakistan flouted the Shimla Agreement by attempting to secure for itself the Siachen Glacier from 1978 to 1984; India finally beat it to position itself there in a daring operation in 1984.It is also little known that we blundered in our homework by not ensuring the release of all the Indian prisoners in Pakistan’s custody. Even as 93000 Pakistani prisoners of war were released at least 56 of ours continue to languish in Pakistani jails till date leaving their families distraught.
Victory days such as Vijay Diwas are a great symbolism for national self-assurance, self-esteem and expression of confidence in the capability, valor, patriotism and sacrifice of the armed forces. That is how it should be. However, as generational change takes place it is important to not only use this symbolism to unify the nation but equally to impart knowledge about the events of the past that we celebrate. The 1971 war needs better capture in history books, films, museum artifacts, memorials and such like things which can remain constant reminders for the nation. The Indian film industry did a good job with films such as ‘Border’ but these are just too few. Many more need to be sponsored. The military uniform and profession in India is respected by the public but only peripherally without understanding the depth of commitment, valor and sacrifice that men in uniform make for the nation. Little is known about the military profession and national security as a subject is just beginning to attract attention of scholars and researchers. We desperately need a National Defence University (NDU) which has been hanging fire for the last 16 years, so that knowledge management on the crucial aspect of national security receives a fillip and much greater interest.
Unfortunately the threat from Pakistan which should have ended after 1971 progressively re-emerged. In 1989 it decided to launch a low cost proxy war in J&K with the strategy of a ‘war by a thousand cuts’. Aware of its inability to match India in the conventional battlefield it chose to engage it in an asymmetric war. The aim is to exploit India’s perceived fault lines, attempt wresting J&K through cultivation of alienation and keep India embroiled in an asymmetric situation to prevent it attaining its national aspirations. It takes confidence from its ability to calibrate the proxy war and the backing it receives from China.
India has little option but to be militarily strong. Its armed forces need to be manned, equipped and trained optimally to ensure maintenance of our ascendancy. We have the dual threat from China and Pakistan and the threat is no longer limited to the land borders. In the modern world the threats transcend various domains. The maritime, space, cyber, psychological, social and economic domains are equally areas where our adversaries can embroil us in conflicts of different kinds with the aim of preventing us from achieving our true potential.
No nation ever progresses if it forgets the sacrifice of it warriors. Many of these warriors have lost their lives or experienced the most intensely challenging conditions to make India safe. On a day such as Vijay Diwas let us remember these sacrifices and salute the men and women who continue to proudly don the uniform of the Indian Armed Forces. They deserve the best the nation can give and nothing should be held back to empower them to do their duties with utmost honor. The best recognition that the public can give the armed forces is by enhancing the knowledge of the new generations on their role and functioning. The military profession needs to be placed on a pedestal so that the best from India’s young flock to wear the uniforms and contribute to the security of their nation.
(The author is former GOC of  Srinagar based 15 Corps)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com


MILITARY LIT FEST: MORE HITS, NO MISSES

The year 2017 shall end at an unprecedented high for the armed forces. Going by the latest trends, the lingering shortage of officers may as well be history in the near future.

Shivansh Joshi, a 17-year-old boy from Ramnagar in Uttarakhand, backed out of an engineering course at NIT Tiruchirappalli to join National Defence Academy (NDA). Barnana, the son of a labourer earning ₹100 daily, shunned a white collar job abroad to serve the nation. Chandrakant, son of a botany professor, worked his way through NDA and Indian Military Academy (IMA) to join the elite special forces, hoping to lead yet another surgical strike. Barnana passed out with a silver medal and Chandrakant earned the Sword of Honour and a gold medal.

Back home, flourishing lawyer Baljinder Bholy and history lecturer Jatinder Kaur succumbed to the obsession of their son, Gursahib, to join NDA despite a lucrative legal heritage and academic guide. Hordes of youngsters are clamouring to get admission into Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Institute and Mai Bhago Institute. Who knows, Punjab might regain its erstwhile status of ‘Sword Arm of the Nation’. Ironically, Shivansh, Barnana, Chandrakant, Gursahib and a majority of others do not belong to a martial background; they want to opt for a career that does not conform to a dynastic mindset, all just to don the uniform.

The first International Military Literature Festival (IMLF) that was held last week could not come at a better time. The flagship event was aimed at showcasing the might and marvel of the nation’s military in all its elegance. Most importantly, to my mind, it highly impacted young minds.

I can say with conviction that the occasion was a winner, hands down. Over 1,200 schoolchildren had an experience of a lifetime. Ruchi, a Class-10 student, said, “Sir, I am in a dilemma whether to join the service or become an army wife. I suppose one is better than the other and I shall give a shot at both of them.”

Kuldip, my cabbie who drove me to the venue, was exuberant. With tears in his eyes, he said, “Sir, my father was in the Sikh regiment. He always instilled discipline and honesty in us. I can say with confidence that I am one of the few drivers with a consistent five-star rating in my company. I salute the armed forces for what I am today. I want my children to carry on the legacy of my soldier father.”

Even intellectually, IMLF was groundbreaking. Apart from recounting the rich war history, a right mix of modern challenges spiced up the fest. I was on a panel on social media with two women. One was a brave army wife, who recounted how she was trolled by certain communal elements on social media due to her religious status, and the other was a student activist, who was widely criticised for airing her views on the interpretation of her soldier father’s martyrdom. Both had a common stance, “Such well-rounded literary festivals will spread wisdom, especially among a handful of misguided citizens, as to what the Indian military is all about. We pardon them because they know not!”


INS Kalvari best ‘make in India’ example: PM

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 14

Presiding over the commissioning of Scorpene-class submarine INS Kalvari into the Navy this morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a shining example of ‘make in India’. “This is the perfect example of ‘make In India’. I wish to congratulate every worker, every employee whose sweat is involved in the creation of Kalvari,” Modi said in his speech. The PM then thanked the government of France for the technological assistance rendered for the construction of the submarine. The Scorpene-class submarines are designed by French company DCNS and is being built by the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai as part of the Navy’s Project-75 programme.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)In his speech, Modi reiterated the importance of the Indian Ocean in global trade and commerce. “Development in the 21st century is taking place via the Indian Ocean and it occupies a special place in the government’s policies… India, too, was giving back to the world by playing a major role in tackling piracy, drug smuggling and terrorism via the sea,” Modi added.The PM said his government has been overhauling the defence sector. “For the past three years, we have been restructuring the entire defence and security apparatus… We have made an impact on the external and internal security of the country,” Modi said.According to the Navy, the Scorpene submarines incorporate a number of state-of-the-art features that improve undetected movement and launch attacks with precision-guided weapons.INS Kalvari will be followed by INS Khanderi, which is currently undergoing trials. INS Kalvari has an overall length of 67.5 metres and a height of about 12.3 metres. The hull form, fin and hydroplanes are specifically designed to produce minimum underwater resistance.The boat has 360 battery cells, each weighing 750 kg, to power the extremely silent Permanently Magnetised Propulsion Motor. The stealth of the boat is further enhanced through the mounting of equipment inside the pressure hull on shock-absorbing cradles. 


Seeds of India­Pak war of 1965 were sown in Kashmir: Veterans

RECOUNTING HISTORY Pakistan was much more flexible than India at a strategic and operational level because of its unitary command, says Lt General Shergill (retd)

CHANDIGARH : Pakistan wasn’t inclined to launch the 1965 offensive, but a couple of political decisions taken by India on Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah’s visit to Pakistan to promote selfdetermination, death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and unrest at home prompted President Field Marshal Ayub Khan to change his mind, said panellist at the Military Literature Festival.

ANIL DAYAL/HT PHOTOS■ (From right) Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Air Marshal Bharat Kumar (retd), Lt Gen NS Brar (retd) and Brig Sukhjit Singh (retd), during the session on the war of 1965 at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh on Saturday.Moderating the discussion on Indo-Pak War 1965, Lt General NS Brar (retd) said the operation is mostly assumed as a large-scale brawl with no clear outcomes, but it has important lessons.

There was a sense of deja vu as Lt Gen Jagbir Singh Cheema (retd) dwelt on the reasons that led to the war.

“It was in early 1964 that then Pakistan foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto set up a Kashmir cell to prevent the integration of the hill state into India.”

Ayub, he said, was disinclined to wage a war against India for Kashmir as the US had threatened to stop the supply of weapons in case of any such offensive.

But some political decisions by India on Kashmir—imposition of Article 356 and Article 357, changing the nomenclature of Jammu and Kashmir prime minister to chief minister—coupled with his close shave in the elections forced him to change his mind.

LESSONS LEARNT

Though taken by surprise at the attack, India was able to rebuff it successfully.

Fifty-three years on, the panellists mulled the course of the war and concluded they could have fared better.

As Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd) put it, “Pakistan was much more flexible than India at a strategic and operational level because of its unitary command right up to the president. India, on the other hand, had quite a few last-minute change of plans that impacted its effectiveness.”

Brig Sukhjit Singh (retd) said one of the important learnings of the war was the importance of deploying commanders who knew their troops well and were adequately trained.

“If you give a staff appointee a tactical role, he is unlikely to perform well,” he said.

The panellists agreed that Pakistani ground forces also had better coordination with the air force. Lt Gen Brar said there was a perception in the army that they did not get the required air support unlike their counterparts. To this, Air Marshal Bharat Kumar (retd), a well-known author, said there was no joint planning, just a general idea. “We were also told that we will not attack any Pakistani air field,” he said.

Brig Sukhjit spoke for many when he concluded, “Ground attack is not a picnic. It is very ugly. Our mistakes come back in body bags. I hope the commanders have learnt their lessons.”


Param Vir Chakra winner urges kids to join NCC

CHANDIGARH: Gurdheer Singh, 16, wants to join the Indian Air Force but isn’t sure if he can fly that high. The Class-10 student of Government High School at Sanghol in Fatehgarh Sahib district is among the 70 schoolchildren from rural areas of Punjab who had just finished interacting with Naib Subedar Sanjay Kumar, one of the two serving Param Vir Chakra (PVC) winners of the Indian Army, at the Saragarhi Samvad on the sidelines of the Military Literature Festival on Saturday.

YOJANA YADAV/HT■ Schoolchildren and cadets with Naib Subedar Sanjay Kumar, a Param Vir Chakra awardee, after an interaction at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh on Saturday.

“How can I say? My mother is a help at an anganwadi centre and my father is a daily wager,” says Gurdheer when asked why he doesn’t want to become a pilot and rule the skies. Poverty may make ambition look audacious but it’s the passion to pursue dreams that makes achievers.

Naib Subedar Kumar assures the children that he was also a government school student in Himachal’s Bilaspur district but was focused on joining the army. “I didn’t miss any recruitment drive and joined the army after three attempts in June 1996, when I was 23. It’s important to have an aim and even more important to have the passion to achieve it. The earlier you start the better. If you want to don a uniform, join the National Cadet Corps (NCC),” he tells the students of Classes 9 and 10.

“Last moment ki tayyari se kuch nahin milega (Last-minute preparations don’t help),” says the gritty winner of the nation’s highest gallantry award. The children listen in rapt attention as he recounts how he took three bullets in the chest and forearm while charging towards the enemy bunker to help capture Area Flat Top during the Kargil War on July 4, 1999. “My aim was clear and nothing came in the way,” he says with a smile.

His brief to the children is simple: “Ghar ka khana khao aur roz PT hona chahiye (Eat homecooked food and do physical training daily).”

“These days the competition is tough, so stay focused and fit. Hundreds apply for one government post. Degrees have lost their value. The value of education has come down,” he says.

“But once you don the uniform, the zeal to serve the nation becomes a part of your being. I would like to see all those who raised their hands to join the forces to come to me for training at the Indian Military Academy (where he is posted),” he adds, before the children flock around him for a photo.


Tributes paid to martyr

A programme was organised by Batwal Association to pay tributes to Vir Chakra awardee Lance Naik Mohan Lal Lakhotra on his 47th martyrdom day at his native village Pouni Chack. Naib sarpanch Ram Lal Lakhotra and Om Parkash Sargotra paid tributes to the martyr.  Association president RL Kaith said young people should remember the sacrifices of soldiers who laid down their lives for the cause of the countryLance Naik Mohan Lal died fighting the Pakistan army in the western sector in 1971. TNS


MILITARY LITERATURE FESTIVAL Bridging the gaps in military history

Official war histories of our country have remained under sealed covers and archival material is largely unavailable to military professionals, scholars and academics. This has led to an inevitable void in information

Sandeep Dikshit

Civilisations indifferent to the recording of history also tend to consign military history to the backseat. Of the four million recorded documents in Indian languages — from the classical era to the 19th century — half are believed to have been irretrievably lost or destroyed and a vast majority of the ones that survive remain untranslated and undigitised.Military history as the basic discipline for the development of national security strategy has remained an underdeveloped genre. But for a clutch of former military men and some academics, the recording of military history is largely hagiography. This approach has suited power centres in India as well as globally because the shortfall in objectivity and honesty helps talk up their exploits while brushing under the carpet instances of ineptness and miscalculations.The Indian government’s reluctance to part with official histories of its wars adds to the apathy and the loss of objectivity in second-hand accounts based on first hand experiences. India did publish the official history of the 1947-48 operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the liberation of Goa in 1961. But the war with China led to a downturn in enthusiasm in the bureaucracy and political class to make public official histories of the subsequent wars. The 1965 India-Pakistan War history was labelled non-official and the 1971 War history remains under sealed covers. The Kargil Review Committee report and a subsequent report by a Group of Ministers, understandably redacted in parts, did provide an official window to the progression of events and the war itself.The erudite man he was, Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao did initiate a move towards openness and making available archival material to military professionals, scholars and academics but the resistance was inevitable. The rules governing the Public Record Act of 1993 took four years to materialise. The Act had promised declassification material at the end of a 30-year cycle. The inefficacy of the legislation led to a fresh debate on the need for openness. While the RTI Act did bring relief to pensioners, the disabled and war widows, it did not result in opening of the archival material. The lacunae led to the setting up of a committee in 2009 comprising bureaucrats and academics with lopsided composition — two historians, seven serving and two retired officials. The committee met a few times in earnest. But last heard, the panel had been wound up and the few suggestions that came its way remained unacknowledged and unimplemented. Given this approach, a knowledge gap is inevitable; not just in stand-alone devotion to the subject but also when benchmarked against international trends.To begin from the beginning, that is the cradle of knowledge, scholars have repeatedly pointed out that the Indian university system is apathetic to the study of military history. Most major and prestigious Central universities offer no course in military history. Even the Departments of Defence and Security Studies (DSS) that exist in about a dozen universities make do with an optional paper and are reported to be bereft of a professional faculty.Although some limited work exists of the pre-Independence British period, there is no serious original work by an Indian author on modern war studies. Rather, mostly foreign scholars excel here and are widely quoted.


A former Defence Secretary recalls“Coming back to the Defence Secretary’s office, the complex, if it may be called, consists of a room for his staff officer, a separate conference hall and a spacious, well-laid out space in the Defence Secretary’s office to hold meetings. On the left side of the office of the Defence Secretary are wooden shelves, stacked with files and books. One of the most coveted books is the Henderson Brooks Report, which is kept under lock and key. It cannot be taken out of the Defence Secretary’s room and cannot be given or lent to any person, including the ministers. I must confess that I have not seen the relevant Order but these instructions are orally passed on from one Defence Secretary to another….

Lessons from others

Both in the US and Australia, it took almost 30 years to integrate the three services. Ultimately, it had to be done by legislation. In India, we are ensuring this coordination and looseness by government orders. Eventually, a law would be required to legally enforce closeness and coordination. Excerpted from Born to Serve: Power Games in Bureaucracy by Yogendra Narain. Manas


Disaffection in forces

Little things can trigger disaffection. The British officers of the East India Company’s army made light of the unease among Indian soldiers over the use of grease on their bullets. The insignificance attached by them to this issue and their subsequent apathy to addressing the misgivings among its infantry gradually snowballed into the First War of Independence. Similarly, because of the absence of source material, sociologists and historians have not been able to expound on the few instances of protest after Operation Bluestar. If at all, the reports might be held by disparate institutions: the military, of course, but also the Intelligence Bureau and the intelligence and police apparatus of states where the incidents occurred. The lessons from the disaffection, however, cannot be applied to the current unease over salaries, order of precedence and pensions.


Northeast, always forgotten

The Northeast has often been a theatre of war in the past. In the 1962 War, it figures in popular lore just once and that too as supporting civilians: Rifleman Jaswant Singh Negi of 4th Garhwal Rifles was assisted by two local girls in keeping off the Chinese. Otherwise, it is rare to come across any book, paper or article about the involvement of Northeast soldiers on either side of Independence. The fact is many young men joined the military to fight the Japanese to defend their home turfs of Kohima and Imphal as well as further afield in Burma and Malaya. Several, for whom age had rendered them unfit for enrolment as soldiers, scouted for intelligence at great peril.In addition, the region has been neglected in the recording of oral history that would have set some of the myths about the 1962 War at rest, especially the one that the Chinese came in wave after wave overwhelming our troops. It may hold for Ladakh but not in Arunachal Pradesh. Very little effort has gone into the recording of oral history. As for the contribution of fighting men, the various states of the Northeast have become inward-looking because of the competitiveness in domestic politics. Assam remains fixated on Ahom culture while political leaders of other states, too, are more preoccupied with highlighting their effort to put indigenous cultures on a pedestal. The recording, preserving and exhibiting of their contribution to the military remains underplayed and unsung.


Military should be kept out of politics, says Army Chief General Rawat

Military should be kept out of politics, says Army Chief General Rawat
Rawat was speaking at an event organised by the United Service Institution. PTI file

New Delhi, December 6

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said that there was a politicisation of the armed forces and the military “should be somehow” kept away from politics.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

It is essential that the military stays far away from politics for a vibrant democracy, he said.

“The military should be somehow kept out of politics. Of late, we have been seeing that politicisation of the military has been taking place. I think we operate in a very secular environment. We have a very vibrant democracy where the military should stay far away from the polity,” he said.

Rawat was speaking at an event organised by the United Service Institution.

In the “good old days”, the norm was that women and politics were never discussed in the forces, he said. However, these subjects were gradually “inching” their way into the discourse and this should be avoided, the Army Chief added.

“Whenever (any) issue (of) linking any military establishment or military personnel where political entity comes in then…  that is best avoided,” he said.

The defence forces, he asserted, do best when they don’t meddle in the political affairs of the nation. PTI