Need to evolve new civil-military maxim
Ramesh Inder Singh
Punjab’s geo-political advantage as the gateway to Hindustan, turned Punjabis martial. In defending the motherland, they have rightfully earned the accolade of ‘the sword arm’ of the nation.
It is not surprising, therefore that our tricity – Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula – is home to many distinguished soldiers and legendary national heros. Two former chiefs of Army, a former Navy chief and a former Air Force chief, with nearly 255 retired generals, including about 90 lieutenant generals, the second highest rank in the Army, live here. The tricity has approximately 35,000 ex-servicemen, including about 5,500 retired defence service officers, out of which about 150 are gallantry awardees. One single regiment with its recruitment base in this region – the Sikh Light Infantry – has given three chiefs to the Indian Army!
In public perception, valour, heroism and sacrifice is viewed as the only attributes of war-victories, and the memory of the brave is recalled only on war commemoration days. However, soldiering today is not simple valour, but encephalon too – the brain power, that has transformed modern armies into ‘thinking soldiers’, planners, strategists, analysts, and war-gamers. Wars are won as much on the battlefield as in the sand model rooms and on the drawing boards.
This naturally results in production of a lot of military literature, war-books, research papers and the like, but these cerebral military issues were usually considered taboo for public debate, particularly in formal citizen’s forums, till Punjab Government and Western Command joined hands to organise the first Military Literature Festival in 2017 at Chandigarh with cooperation of the UT Administration
This precedent was followed by few other Literary Festivals, such as KSLF at Kasauli and VoW at Dehradun, who devoted a few sessions to military and strategic affairs. Lucknow, however, became the second city in the country to hold an exclusive military literary festival in 2021, followed by INS Valsura at Jamnagar in June 2022.
The lead taken by Chandigarh is commendable and its 6th Military Lit Fest being organised on 3rd and 4th December promises brainstorming on topical military and strategic challenges such as Russia-Ukraine conflict, China’s emergence as a super-power, aircraft carriers’ power, soldiering etc, apart from discussion on a few recently published books.
My book, Turmoil in Punjab, Before and After Bluestar, which will come up for discussion in the festival, is an eyewitness account of what happened in Punjab during the two decades of militancy. It details the role played by the various arms of the state, including the Army, in bringing peace to Punjab.
The Army is, almost always, a fall back of the last resort, when other wings of the state fail or lack capacity to deal with a situation. Armed Forces have performed commendably and enjoy citizen’s confidence. However, no institution is infallible and neo-nationalism should not inhibit reasoned debate, more so because the strategy and tactics that the armed forces adopt in wars, and also in aid to civil authority, has far reaching national outcomes. Illustratively, the consequences of the decision to use tanks in Golden Temple in 1984 are too well known to be recalled.
Our Army, to its credit, has remained professional and apolitical. However, today it is often deployed over long periods in disturbed areas, like it was in Punjab, northeastern states or is in J&K. My experience, as described in my book, is that there is need to evolve a new civil-military maxim, establish institutional structures with well-defined procedures, and civilian oversight, rather than merely rely upon the present joint command concept, which often ends up as ‘meet and greet’ conferences.
The Military Literary Festivals will provide the opportunity to examine many such complex issues and facilitate a reasoned debate.