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IDU asks if Government felt need for a CDS in the recent case when One Rajputana Rifle soldier was beheaded along the LOC and another killed ? The answer is attempted.
From early Jan this year the the Line of Control(LOC) between India and Pakistan seems to have been tense as Army claims. Army states that Pakistan as in the past, planned to infiltrate terrorists in to India. It is also reported, that the fence India has set up at great expense along the LOC is some times some few meters inside India and Pakistanis cut and damage the fence.
Around 6th Jan Pakistani troops first shelled an Indian post in Uri area and injured civilians of a village while trying to send in infiltrators and Indian Army to stop this, shelled Pakistani posts and one Pakistan soldier from Baluch regiment was killed. The Indian High Commissioner/ rep was called up in Islamabad and a demarche was given. IDU is sure all three service Chiefs and one of them as Chairman COS ACM NAK Browne was fully briefed on what exactly happened and their advice with Army Chief as fulcrum taken. Media reports can be misleading.
Thereafter on 8th Jan in the cold and in foggy conditions, in thickly forested hilly area some distance from a place called Mendhar ( Where a Senior Retired General who has knowledge says Pakistani post has advantage) an Army Domination Team of not more than 10-12 operating 500 -600 meters inside Indian side of LOC in the fog, got into a fire fight and in the firing from Baluch regiment it seems the two scouts ahead of the team were found mutilated and killed when the team assembled. One killed soldiers head was missing, surely be-headed. This was serious. IDU is sure the political set up, NSA, PMO, NSC and Defence Secretary and the most important segment of India that is responsible for Indias Integrity, honour and borders on land sea and air the Armed Forces Service Chiefs must have been jointly briefed and asked for advice what India can and needs to do. Each chief must have offered advice for politicians and NSA to take decisions.
The three Chiefs are absolutely of equal status who report directly to the Defence Minister who reports to the Prime Minister who as per the Constitution runs the country through his Cabinet, as per Art 74 and advises the Supreme Commander with no powers to act as per Art 53. DM has all powers in the Rules of Business including Art 311 to sack any one in uniform as CNS Bhagwat case and war room leak showed. The PM and DM both also report to/seek counsel of the elected Chairperson of the UPA coalition as the head of the Congress party, who not in the Cabinet or CCS or NSC. This is a new innovation and though not as per the Constitution it is introduced with a powerful National Advisory Council (NAC). Such a system is prevalent only in India on the plea as there is a coalition in Parliament and PM is not elected but nominated. He is supported by political clout by UPA Chairperson.
Pakistan is in denial on the killing of the two Rajputana Rifles scouts operating in fog on 8th Jan, 2013 by Baluch regiment and of beheading one of them some few hundred meters in side Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC) near Mehdhar. The intruders came so close as to snatch their rifles and take the head away. Tempers are running high and Foreign Minister Khurshid has taken diplomatic actions of an MEA demarche by the Foreign Secretary who did not offer the Pakistan Ambassador tea as per media when tabling a Demarche, which is a piece of paper. EAM Khursid called the incident one of those one off incidents which have been increasing.
Pakistans FM Hina Rabbani in Islamabad told a Press Conference which was widely televised world over by Pakistans propaganda machine in great diction, charm and modulation that Pakistan has taken up the matter to UNs UNIMOG in Kashmir for investigation. India objects to that as it does not want UN involved in the Kashmir dispute and UN can not move unless India also approaches it. India is debating whether the Peace Process should continue and Pakistan says it must. IDU is sure the Service Chiefs must have all the details and intelligence, and all three and may be the DG Coast Guard must be very involved in this Indo-Pak issue for preparation and decision making as the Buck for Defence stops at their three doorsteps in South Block, India Gate and Vayu Bhavan some distance away.
The patriotic people of Indian are angry and the Indian Army is very very angry and wild cries by opposition and media range from to go to war, teach a lesson with covert operations, to boycotts, to stop talking to Pakistan and such shrillness. Trade across LOC has stopped and 80 trucks are stuck up so some Kashmiri business folks will suffer and hurt. The nearest to admission by Pakistan among denials came on TV by a clever Pakistani Admiral. He said it needs investigation if this was an Institutional act of an Individual soldier or some one else as Pakistan is itself reeling under killings by various organizations creating trouble to de-rail the peacr process. Service chiefs are kept updated by IB and RAW on Pakistans renegade outfits so they can analyse. The Army chief is pivotal, but all Chiefs of Staff have to give advice as Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee is mandated to advice only when all agree and Kargil war saw this did not work.
The four Services plan, order, operate and function and prepare for war in compartments and this, despite a large Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and a separate Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which oversees Indias nuclear assets and plans for Indias retaliatory second strike in Indias No First Use policy.
The Indian Armed Forces have 13 geographically separated commands, five each for the Army and Air Force and three for the Navy and one joint command for the Andaman Nicobar Islands. The A&N, the IDS, the DIA and the SFC are under the already burdened senior-most Service Chief who dons the rotating hat of the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COS) currently Air Chief ACM NAK Browne with a plateful of administrative and operational responsibility of his own expanding Air Force.. The Chiefs own turf per force gets priority at the cost of the other services, as per former COS Chairman Admiral Arun Prakash. Also, for most Chairmen COS, short terms poses another impediment to planning.
The first step in the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for cohesion and single point of advice to the Government has not been acceptable to the political establishment despite recommendations. The strongest recommendations came in the report of the Arun Singh Committee in the 1990s, and were reinforced by the Kargil Committee Report in 2000 with the experience of the 1999 Kargil War. The report was steered by Indias doyen strategist, Late K Subrahmanyam. No action has been taken and recently in 2012, the matter re-surfaced in the Naresh Chandra Committee which recommended a watered-down post of a permanent Chairman COS at four-star level though the report has not been made public or action taken.
Retired CNS Admiral Arun Prakash, a member of the Chandra Committee explained it eloquently at USI. The word CDS is anathema to the bureaucratic, political and even the Indian Air Force brass and hence, the Naresh Chandra Committee has taken the half way first step to relieve the current Chairman COS of the many joint service functions.. The next logical step will be to assign roles and missions for the three Services and look at the region for security through joint capability and synergize procurement with priority of needs. In this century of galloping technology with cyber and space raising challenges to cope with, it needs noting the rising cost of hardware. There is an immediate need to synergize the assets, procurement and operations of the three Services and single point advice.
The establishment owes it to the nation to be prudent and practical.
Many politicians have said the system is working well, procurements are good and if in this case of national tension on be-heading of a soldier, the Chiefs are satisfied they were well consulted and politicians are also satisfied all is well then that augurs well for the nation. There is no need for a CDS.
The Beheading Case. Service Chiefs Must Have Been Fully Consulted. Was a CDS Missed ?
From early Jan this year the the Line of Control(LOC) between India and Pakistan seems to have been tense as Army claims. Army states that Pakistan as in the past, planned to infiltrate terrorists in to India. It is also reported, that the fence India has set up at great expense along the LOC is some times some few meters inside India and Pakistanis cut and damage the fence.
Around 6th Jan Pakistani troops first shelled an Indian post in Uri area and injured civilians of a village while trying to send in infiltrators and Indian Army to stop this, shelled Pakistani posts and one Pakistan soldier from Baluch regiment was killed. The Indian High Commissioner/ rep was called up in Islamabad and a demarche was given. IDU is sure all three service Chiefs and one of them as Chairman COS ACM NAK Browne was fully briefed on what exactly happened and their advice with Army Chief as fulcrum taken. Media reports can be misleading.
Thereafter on 8th Jan in the cold and in foggy conditions, in thickly forested hilly area some distance from a place called Mendhar ( Where a Senior Retired General who has knowledge says Pakistani post has advantage) an Army Domination Team of not more than 10-12 operating 500 -600 meters inside Indian side of LOC in the fog, got into a fire fight and in the firing from Baluch regiment it seems the two scouts ahead of the team were found mutilated and killed when the team assembled. One killed soldiers head was missing, surely be-headed. This was serious. IDU is sure the political set up, NSA, PMO, NSC and Defence Secretary and the most important segment of India that is responsible for Indias Integrity, honour and borders on land sea and air the Armed Forces Service Chiefs must have been jointly briefed and asked for advice what India can and needs to do. Each chief must have offered advice for politicians and NSA to take decisions.
The three Chiefs are absolutely of equal status who report directly to the Defence Minister who reports to the Prime Minister who as per the Constitution runs the country through his Cabinet, as per Art 74 and advises the Supreme Commander with no powers to act as per Art 53. DM has all powers in the Rules of Business including Art 311 to sack any one in uniform as CNS Bhagwat case and war room leak showed. The PM and DM both also report to/seek counsel of the elected Chairperson of the UPA coalition as the head of the Congress party, who not in the Cabinet or CCS or NSC. This is a new innovation and though not as per the Constitution it is introduced with a powerful National Advisory Council (NAC). Such a system is prevalent only in India on the plea as there is a coalition in Parliament and PM is not elected but nominated. He is supported by political clout by UPA Chairperson.
Pakistan is in denial on the killing of the two Rajputana Rifles scouts operating in fog on 8th Jan, 2013 by Baluch regiment and of beheading one of them some few hundred meters in side Indian side of the Line of Control (LOC) near Mehdhar. The intruders came so close as to snatch their rifles and take the head away. Tempers are running high and Foreign Minister Khurshid has taken diplomatic actions of an MEA demarche by the Foreign Secretary who did not offer the Pakistan Ambassador tea as per media when tabling a Demarche, which is a piece of paper. EAM Khursid called the incident one of those one off incidents which have been increasing.
Pakistans FM Hina Rabbani in Islamabad told a Press Conference which was widely televised world over by Pakistans propaganda machine in great diction, charm and modulation that Pakistan has taken up the matter to UNs UNIMOG in Kashmir for investigation. India objects to that as it does not want UN involved in the Kashmir dispute and UN can not move unless India also approaches it. India is debating whether the Peace Process should continue and Pakistan says it must. IDU is sure the Service Chiefs must have all the details and intelligence, and all three and may be the DG Coast Guard must be very involved in this Indo-Pak issue for preparation and decision making as the Buck for Defence stops at their three doorsteps in South Block, India Gate and Vayu Bhavan some distance away.
The patriotic people of Indian are angry and the Indian Army is very very angry and wild cries by opposition and media range from to go to war, teach a lesson with covert operations, to boycotts, to stop talking to Pakistan and such shrillness. Trade across LOC has stopped and 80 trucks are stuck up so some Kashmiri business folks will suffer and hurt. The nearest to admission by Pakistan among denials came on TV by a clever Pakistani Admiral. He said it needs investigation if this was an Institutional act of an Individual soldier or some one else as Pakistan is itself reeling under killings by various organizations creating trouble to de-rail the peacr process. Service chiefs are kept updated by IB and RAW on Pakistans renegade outfits so they can analyse. The Army chief is pivotal, but all Chiefs of Staff have to give advice as Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee is mandated to advice only when all agree and Kargil war saw this did not work.
The four Services plan, order, operate and function and prepare for war in compartments and this, despite a large Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and a separate Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which oversees Indias nuclear assets and plans for Indias retaliatory second strike in Indias No First Use policy.
The Indian Armed Forces have 13 geographically separated commands, five each for the Army and Air Force and three for the Navy and one joint command for the Andaman Nicobar Islands. The A&N, the IDS, the DIA and the SFC are under the already burdened senior-most Service Chief who dons the rotating hat of the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COS) currently Air Chief ACM NAK Browne with a plateful of administrative and operational responsibility of his own expanding Air Force.. The Chiefs own turf per force gets priority at the cost of the other services, as per former COS Chairman Admiral Arun Prakash. Also, for most Chairmen COS, short terms poses another impediment to planning.
The first step in the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for cohesion and single point of advice to the Government has not been acceptable to the political establishment despite recommendations. The strongest recommendations came in the report of the Arun Singh Committee in the 1990s, and were reinforced by the Kargil Committee Report in 2000 with the experience of the 1999 Kargil War. The report was steered by Indias doyen strategist, Late K Subrahmanyam. No action has been taken and recently in 2012, the matter re-surfaced in the Naresh Chandra Committee which recommended a watered-down post of a permanent Chairman COS at four-star level though the report has not been made public or action taken.
Retired CNS Admiral Arun Prakash, a member of the Chandra Committee explained it eloquently at USI. The word CDS is anathema to the bureaucratic, political and even the Indian Air Force brass and hence, the Naresh Chandra Committee has taken the half way first step to relieve the current Chairman COS of the many joint service functions.. The next logical step will be to assign roles and missions for the three Services and look at the region for security through joint capability and synergize procurement with priority of needs. In this century of galloping technology with cyber and space raising challenges to cope with, it needs noting the rising cost of hardware. There is an immediate need to synergize the assets, procurement and operations of the three Services and single point advice.
The establishment owes it to the nation to be prudent and practical.
Many politicians have said the system is working well, procurements are good and if in this case of national tension on be-heading of a soldier, the Chiefs are satisfied they were well consulted and politicians are also satisfied all is well then that augurs well for the nation. There is no need for a CDS.
The Beheading Case. Service Chiefs Must Have Been Fully Consulted. Was a CDS Missed ?
