The military wants a greater say in policy matters, but it wants to keep civilians out of its domain

Speaking to a military audience in 1973, the eminent war historian Michael Howard said that he was tempted “to declare dogmatically that whatever doctrine the Armed Forces are working on now, they have got it wrong.” But he went to add: “it does not matter that they have got it wrong. What does matter is their capacity to get it right quickly when the moment arrives”. I was reminded of this speech after reading the recently unveiled Joint Doctrine for the Indian Armed Forces. The first such doctrine to be published by the Indian military, it has been panned by many perceptive analysts of military affairs.

All the same, the doctrine is an important attempt by the armed forces to inform and influence public debates on strategic issues. From this standpoint, the most curious part of the document is an appendix on “Civil-Military Relations”. These couple of pages lay out the military’s perspective on what is wrong with our existing institutional arrangements of civil-military relations and how to set it right.

Civil-military relations in India have been balancing on the brink of a crisis over the past few years. Controversies over one-rank onepension and the latest pay commission were symptoms of deeper problems. Yet successive governments have done nothing to address them. The doctrine’s attempt to flag this issue in public attests to the military’s deepening disquiet on this front.

The appendix on civil-military relations opens with a quote from an air marshal: “Direction in the Civil-Military Relationship in any democracy is strictly the right of the political leadership and not bureaucracy”. This harks to the military’s longstanding complaint that civilian control has turned into civil service control. There is something to this claim, though it tends to be overstated in military discourse. Nevertheless, the doctrine is right in observing that “it is prudent that institutional and structural mechanisms exist that facilitate free flowing communication between the two, thereby enabling critical and timely decision making. The functionaries in the MoD ought to be enablers of this relationship.”

More problematic is the military’s own view of how these arrangements should function when it comes to such critical areas as the use of force. The doctrine states: “Military professionals are experts in the use of force under the political institution of the State. Apropos, it would always be essential for the civilian authority, in consultation with military (as part of decision making process) to decide the Military Objective and then leave it to the military professionals to decide upon the best way of achieving the objective.” In other words, the military should have a say in deciding the aims and should be left free to pursue it.

The underlying premise about military professionalism is not as compelling as it sounds. As scholars of civil-military relations have pointed out, the military is quite unlike other professions. Few military officers have actual experience of fighting wars: our top military leadership, for instance, joined the services well after the 1971 war. Treating them as experts in the management of violence is a bit like entrusting a crucial surgery to a doctor who has prepared all his life to perform a surgery without ever having done one. To be sure, the military will always know more about military affairs but there is no reason to presume that they know best.

Equally dodgy is the subsequent claim about operational independence for the military. Earlier, the doctrine quotes Clausewitz’s famous dictum about war being a continuation of politics. But the demand for operational independence is inconsistent with the Clausewitzian view. If war is a continuation of politics, then politics will influence and intervene at levels of warfare down to the tactical. As the recent incident of using a human shield in Kashmir shows, even tactical actions can have political consequences. Hence, there can be no inviolable military sphere–either in theory or in practice. Acquiescing in such a demand will be deeply damaging. The history of our own wars underscores these problems.

It is curious that on one hand the military wants greater say in policy matters, but on the other it wants to keep the civilians out of its domain. The former demand is entirely understandable, but the latter is incompatible with any properly integrated system of civil-military relations. The military can’t have its cake and eat it too. If strategy is the bridge between political ends and military means, then it will have to be jointly constructed by the civilians and the military.

Angry Mamata lashes out at Centre for ‘non-cooperation’; orders probe into communal flare-up

Police personnel at the Sonada toy train railway station that was set afire during an indefinite strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling on Saturday. AFP

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, July 8

The Army was today called in, the second time in 30 days, as Darjeeling and neighbouring Sonada erupted after the body of a youth was recovered in Sonada. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, blaming the BJP-led Union Government for the crisis, said if enough CRPF companies had been made available to the state in time, violence would not have occurred in the hills.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“There is total non-cooperation from the Centre”, she alleged at a press conference here. “The Union Government did send seven companies of central forces after trouble broke out in Darjeeling, but six of the seven companies had inherent limitations as these consisted of three companies each of SSB and women CRPF personnel,” she said. Pointing out that personnel of the SSB and women CRPF were not geared up for the job at hand, Mamata said this only showed that “there was a deliberate attempt” by the Centre to deny her help. She announced a judicial inquiry into the communal violence in Baduria and Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district as well as a probe to ascertain who was responsible for the death of a young man at Sonada on Friday night.Young Tashi Bhutia’s body was found at Sonada this morning with bullet wounds. The Gorkha National Liberation Front, which had earlier spearheaded the movement for Gorkhaland but was reduced to a fringe force following the emergence of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), claimed that the deceased was one of its activists. “Another Gorkha martyred. Tashi Bhutia alias Khitta, a Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) cadre,  was last night martyred by CRPF in Sonada @ around 11 PM”, Neeraj Zimba Tamang, GNLF spokesman, posted on his Facebook page.Residents of Sonada took out a procession with Bhutia’s body and clashed with the police who used tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the mob. Miscreants set afire the waiting room of the Sonada railway station — a heritage station on the Siliguri-Darjeeling toy train route. In Darjeeling, Gorkhaland supporters set ablaze an office of the ruling Trinamool Congress and clashed with the police at Chowkbazar. One person was reportedly killed in the violence.The Army was first deployed in Darjeeling on June 8 and withdrawn on June 24, much to the chagrin of the CM.

File photo of Arjan Singh, Marshal of the Indian Air Force. — PTI

New Delhi, September 16President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday mourned the death of Marshal Arjan Singh and hailed his excellent leadership in the 1965 India-Pakistan war when the Indian Air Force saw substantial action.”Sad at demise of a great air warrior & Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Condolences to his family & IAF community.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday mourned the death of Marshal Arjan Singh and hailed his excellent leadership in the 1965 India-Pakistan war when the Indian Air Force saw substantial action.”Sad at demise of a great air warrior & Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Condolences to his family & IAF community.

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Sad at demise of a great air warrior & Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Condolences to his family & IAF community  privacy

 “Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh was a WW II hero & won our nation’s gratitude for his military leadership in 1965 war,” Kovind said in a series of tweets.“India mourns the unfortunate demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh. We remember his outstanding service to the nation,” PM Modi tweeted.

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Narendra Modi 

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India mourns the unfortunate demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh. We remember his outstanding service to the nation.

Modi said the determined focus of Singh, who was promoted to the five-star rank of Marshal of the Air Force in 2002, on capacity building in the IAF added great strength to India’s defence capabilities.”India will never forget the excellent leadership of Arjan Singh in 1965, when the IAF saw substantial action,” the prime minister said in a series of tweets.

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Narendra Modi 

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India will never forget the excellent leadership of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh in 1965, when the IAF saw substantial action.

 

Modi recalled how the ageing war hero stood up to salute him despite his ill health.”Sometime back I met him, who despite his ill health tried to get up to salute even though I said no. Such was his soldier discipline,” he said.

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My thoughts are with his family & those mourning the demise of a distinguished air warrior & fine human, Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh. RIP

He said his thoughts were with Singh’s family and those mourning the demise of the distinguished air warrior and a fine human being,” the prime minister added. PTI

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 9

Even as the state government today appointed Maj Gen Dharam Vir Singh Rana (retd) as Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC), the appointment of the outgoing Chairman KS Tomar as Chief Information Commissioner could not be made despite a meeting of the selection committee.Rana hails from Bhattu village in Kangra district and will head the commission for six years or attainment of 65 years of age. There have been several occasions when senior Army officers have occupied the post of chairman or member of the HPPSC with Maj Gen CK Sharma (retd) and Brig Lokender Chauhan (retd) also occupying these posts recently.A meeting of the selection committee to finalise the names of the next State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) and State Information Commissioner (SIC) was held here today at a very short notice. The meeting was attended by Virbhadra, senior Cabinet minister Vidya Stokes and Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal amid hectic lobbying by contenders. Even as it was being expected that a decision on the new SCIC and SIC would be taken, it has been decided to invite fresh applications till May 24. As per the fresh advertisement, issued by the Administrative Reforms Department, the applicants, who had applied for the post in May 2016, need not send fresh applications.Besides Tomar, the other front runner for the SCIC is Narender Chauhan, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD), who also holds an LLM degree and enjoys impeccable integrity. Some other retired IAS, IPS and IFS officers too are in the race for the post of SCIC lying vacant for the last over one year.The post of Chairman, HPPSC, fell vacant on May 7 on the completion of the term of Tomar. A total of 137 applications had been received against the advertisement on May 13, 2016, after the completion of the term of Bhim Sen, a former IAS, who completed his term on March 23, 2016. The post of State Information Commissioner (SIC) too fell vacant last month on the completion of the term of KD Batish. A total of 37 applications have been received to fill the lone post of SIC.

Hails from Kangra

• Maj Gen Dharam Vir Singh Rana (retd) hails from Bhattu village inKangra district
• He will head the commission for six years

Pakistan’s former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf says he considered the use of nuclear weapons against India amid tensions following the 2001 terror attack on the Indian Parliament, but decided against doing so out of fear of retaliation, according to a media report.

Musharraf, 73, also recalled that he had many sleepless nights, asking himself whether he would or could deploy nuclear weapons, the Japanese daily ‘Mainichi Shimbun’ said.

The former president disclosed that amid tensions between India and Pakistan following the 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, he contemplated the use of nuclear weapons, but decided against doing so out of fear of retaliation.

When tensions were high in 2002, there was a “danger when (the) nuclear threshold could have been crossed,” the paper quoted Musharraf as saying.

At the time, Musharraf had publicly said that he would not rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons.

Musharraf also said, however, that at the time, neither India nor Pakistan had nuclear warheads on their missiles, so it would have taken one to two days to make them launch-ready.

Asked whether he had ordered that missiles be equipped with nuclear warheads and put into firing position, he said, “We didn’t do that and we don’t think India also did that, thank God” — pointing, perhaps, to a fear of retaliation, the paper reported.

The two countries subsequently avoided an all-out clash and tensions subsided.

The then army chief Musharraf ousted the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a coup in October 1999. The army general served as president from 2001 to 2008.

Musharraf has been living in Dubai since last year when he was allowed to leave Pakistan on pretext of medical treatment. He has been charged with involvement in the murder of the former two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Our Correspondent

MANALI, July 3

Lt Gen SK Shrivastava, Director General Border Roads (DGBR), visited both portals of the Rohtang tunnel to evaluate the current status and progress of the work. He visited south portal of the Rohtang tunnel at Dhundi on Sunday and north portal at Sissu today.He spent hours at the sites and had detailed discussions with his staff and the companies involved in the construction of the tunneling works. Brigadier DN Bhatt, Chief Engineer of Rohtang tunnel project, briefed him about the ongoing works and further steps taken to speed up the works.The DG, BRO, said the breakthrough of the tunnel would happen in October 2017. He said after the breakthrough other activities too would speed up and in this snow season, the remaining activities at north portal would be taken up from the south-end to further enhance the pace of work.

A cannon outside the Anglo-Sikh War Museum in Ferozepur.

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, September 9

Two pistols dating back to the Anglo-Sikh wars of 1845-46, stolen more than a decade ago from a museum here, are yet to be recovered.Earlier, swords, firearms and other weapons from these wars had been put on display at the Anglo-Sikh War Museum at the time of its inauguration in 1976. It was constructed in memory of the Sikh soldiers who had attained martyrdom while fighting the British forces.However, much to the dismay of historians and local residents, these historical weapons have been junked or got stolen.On the complaint of the then Director, Cultural Affairs, the Ferozepur police had registered a criminal case against two persons at Ghall Khurd police station in June 2006 in connection with the theft, but no follow-up action was taken.“It seems successive state governments deserted this monument the way the generals betrayed their brave soldiers during the Anglo-Sikh wars,” said Harish Monga, a local resident.Paucity of funds, manpower and resources at this sprawling complex are cited among the reasons for its neglect. The iron tripod bearing plaques of the Anglo-Sikh wars have rusted beyond recognition. The collection of murals and wall paintings depicting battle scenes and portraits by renowned painters such as Kirpal Singh and Jaswant Singh have been damaged. The condition of portraits of Maharani Jindan, Sham Singh Attariwala, Diwan Mool Chand and Lord Dalhousie is equally bad.“Instead of setting up more memorials, the state government should first improve the condition of the existing ones,” said Lt Gen OP Nandrajog, a former Army commander.“One wonders if the state officials or ministers have ever had the inclination to visit these memorials,” he added.Meanwhile, Army officers from Britain will visit the Saragarhi memorial here on Tuesday to pay tributes to martyrs of the 1897 battle. The Congress government is hosting a state-level function to mark the occasion. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who is on a private visit to the UK, has authored a book on the subject.

Kulbhushan Jadhav. File photo

New Delhi, May 9

The International Court of Justice today stayed the hanging of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of “spying”.The order by the Hague-based International Court of Justice came a day after India approached it against the death sentence handed down to Jadhav by Pakistan’s Field General Court Martial last month.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)India, in its appeal to the ICJ, accused Pakistan of “egregious” violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and asserted that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he was involved in business activities after retiring from the Indian Navy but Pakistan claimed to have arrested him from Balochistan on March 3, 2016. Following the appeal, the ICJ stayed his hanging.  — PTI

Indo-Pak politics plays out in UK elections

Theresa May campaigns in York

Ashis Ray in London

Twenty-four out of 650 constituencies in the House of Commons have 10-50% of overseas citizens of India or non-resident Indians. In effect, people of Indian origin have between a significant to a decisive say on who wins these seats.Virendra Sharma is the sitting MP for Ealing Southall, who attracted 65% of votes cast in the last general election in 2015. In a veiled reference to an undercurrent of subcontinental politics in his constituency, which has Sikhs and Hindus from India, Pakistanis and Afghans, he told a rally: “This is a British election and we should be debating British values, not old community conflicts, ancient arguments and squabbles from half a world away and half a century ago.”(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)A section of Pakistani constituents had objected to his stout defence of India in a debate on Kashmir in the Commons. Without directly referring to this, he affirmed: “I will represent every religion, every culture and those unsure of where they belong.”Regardless of his being a rock solid seat for his Labour party, Sharma is taking no chances. Accompanied by activists, he is going door-to-door to canvass for support. One hundred and twenty-five years after the first Indian was elected to the British House of Commons, a turbaned Sikh is likely to make a maiden appearance in this chamber when results of the mid-term general election—unexpectedly summoned by Prime Minister Theresa May to strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations with the European Union—are declared on June 9 next.Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, 38, has been selected by the opposition Labour party to fight in the constituency of Slough, 33 km to the west of London. He replaces Fiona Mactaggart, who stood down after being its MP for 20 years. In the last election, she won by a margin of 15.2% in a seat considered to be a relatively safe for Labour. “If elected, I will work tirelessly for the people of Slough,” he vowed to the Slough Express.Dhesi will be the third Sikh to enter the Commons after Piara Singh Khabra, who represented nearby Ealing Southall, and Marsha Singh, who stood from the Pakistan-dominated area of Bradford West. Both, though, were radical left-wingers who dispensed with long hair and beard as well as their turbans.Dadabhai Naoroji, a Liberal, entered the Commons from Finsbury Central constituency in London in 1892 and remained a member until 1895. He was followed by Sir Mancherjee Bhownagree, a Conservative, who won from Bethnal Green North East, also in London. He served as a lawmaker from 1895 to 1906.Then came the intriguing Shapurji Saklatvala, a former Tata employee and a cousin of the third chairman of the Group, Nowroji Saklatvala. In 1922, he stood for election on behalf of the Communist Party of Great Britain and won from Battersea North in the British capital. He lost the next year, only to be returned for a full five-year term in the Commons in 1924.Fifty-eight years elapsed before another politician of Asian extraction was ushered in to the Commons. Keith Vaz, born in Aden and of Goan descent, ended the drought by getting elected in 1987 for the Labour party from Leicester East, a constituency he has represented ever since.Others who earned the right to warm the gleaming green leather seats were Dr Ashok Kumar, Labour who won from Langbaurgh and Middlesborough South and East Cleveland, Parmjit Dhanda, Labour from Gloucester, Parmjit Gill, Liberal Democrat from Leicester South and Paul Uppal Conservative from Wolverhampton South West. The first mentioned died prematurely. The other three lost their seats, although Uppal is now back in the fray.The maternal grandfather of Sebastian Coe, a double Olympic gold medallist, was Punjabi. He was elected in 1992 from Falmouth and Camborne as a Conservative, before losing in 1997.  Vaz’s sister, Valerie Vaz, Labour from Walsall South—who celebrated Baisakhi in the Houses of Parliament before the house prorogued—Seema Malhotra (who is up and coming and has served as shadow chief secretary to the treasury), Labour from Feltham and Heston, Lisa Nandy (who father was a Bengali doctor), Labour from Wigan, Shailesh Vara, Conservative from Cambridgeshire North West, Priti Patel, Conservative from Witham, Alok Sharma (a second generation Tory), Conservative from Reading West, hedge fund millionaire Rishi Sunak, Conservative from Richmond, Yorkshire, and son-in-law of NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys, and Suella Fernandes, Conservative from Fareham, are again in the running. Last year, Keith Vaz was forced to resign as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee—having performed creditably at this post since 2007—after an expose on his private life by the Sunday Mirror. It will be interesting to see how—if at all—his constituency of pre-dominantly orthodox Gujarati Hindus reacts to the episode. He met trustees of the Brahma Samaj over the weekend. In 2015, he ensnared 61% of votes.Indian-origin people still punch below their weight in terms of the contingent of MPs. They are 3.3% of the population, but occupy only 1.5% of the seats. But if the outgoing MPs are re-elected and Dhesi and Uppal are returned, the number of lawmakers of Indian descent would rise in the next Commons. Navin Shah in Harrow East, Resham Kotecha in Coventry North West and Ameet Jogia in Brent North are among those who’ve thrown their hat into the ring.   With Patel enjoying cabinet rank and Alok Sharma a junior minister, Indian extraction politicians have in recent years enhanced their presence in Whitehall. 

indian-origin people the deciding factor

• 24out of 650 constituencies in House of Commons have 10% to 50% of overseas citizens of India or NRIs

Sikh connection

• Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, 38, has been selected by opposition Labour party to fight in the constituency of Slough
• If elected, Dhesi will be third Sikh to enter the Commons after Piara Singh Khabra, who represented nearby Ealing Southall
• He, however, will be first turbaned Sikh to make a appearance in this chamber when poll results are declared on June 9
• The second was Marsha Singh, who stood from the Pakistan-dominated area of Bradford West
• Both Piara and Marsha, though, were radical left-wingers who dispensed with long hair and beard as well as their turbans