Troop movement: Armymen laugh at bureaucrats for hitting panic button - The Times of India
NEW DELHI: A day after a news report about unauthorized military movements kicked up a row, defence ministry sources picked holes in the conspiracy theory, stressing that it was silly that sections of the government acquiesced in the scare about the intent of units when they were only engaged in routine exercises.
A senior officer said that even if a "reckless" Army chief were to think of flexing muscles, it wouldn't make much sense for a few hundred troops to be moved from Hisar and Agra.
Over 6,000 trained soldiers are posted within Delhi throughout the year as part of the larger Army deployment. Several others pointed to the fact that thousands more soldiers were in the national capital during the period. These troops had come to Delhi for the Army Day celebrations and the Republic Day parade. Thousands of trained troops arrive in the national capital weeks ahead of January 15, the Army Day.
Sections in the government made the authorities press the panic button by representing the movement of two units on January 16 as a sinister manoeuvre by the supporters of Army chief General V K Singh.
There are other reasons also why many in the government find it mysterious that supposedly seasoned people bought into the suggestion that the movement of two units was actually meant to be muscle flexing by supporters of the Army chief.
Many in the defence ministry pointed out that it would have been an extremely foolish step to mobilize troops along the crowded national highways over several hours, if the intent was to flex muscles. Officers also drew attention to the fact that every unit of the Indian Army carries out mobilization exercises at least once every quarter, since the Operation Parakram days.
"Why would you want to bring a few hundred soldiers via road, taking several hours," an officer asked.
When India mobilized its troops to the Pakistan border in the wake of the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament, serious problems with swift mobilization were exposed. Worst was the extreme slowness with which troops mobilized to the border.
Ever since Operation Parakram, all Army units carry out regular mobilization exercises. These involve the troops mobilizing vehicles, weapons, rations, fuel etc to figure out preparedness. The units move out of their base and go several kilometers ahead before turning back. Then a review is carried out. What the mechanized infantry unit based in Hisar and the 50 Para Regiment based in Agra did was the same - they moved ahead as part of regular mobilization.
There is really something brewing here...........
