Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should order investigations by a retired Supreme Court Judge into the fake military coup propagated by former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma maligning and belittling the Indian Army.
With the political leadership clearly stating that there was no coup attempt, babu Shashi Kant Sharma and others need to be investigated and taken to task for creating a false alarm.
It is becoming obvious that the ‘babus’ in MoD, who are unable to deliver modern weapon platforms efficiently to the military, are hell bent on lowering the image of the Indian Army, which in turn is demoralizing the troops and acts as a disincentive for the young to serve their country.
This amounts to grave anti-India activity, weakening the sinews of the nation. With the political leadership clearly stating that there was no coup attempt, babu Shashi Kant Sharma and others need to be investigated and taken to task for creating a false alarm.
It is imperative that we visit the contours of the military coup executed by General Musharraf in Pakistan on 12 October 1999. All militaries particularly the Army are highly trained to conduct ruthless operations against their adversary. The speed and precision of movement with the weapons they wield make them formidable and unstoppable.
When the military coup took place in Pakistan, the Army under directions from Lt Gen Usmani, seized the air control tower to enable Musharraf to land, troops took over control of the state-run television, put the prime minister Nawaz Sharif under house arrest by encircling his residence, took over control of international airports and snapped the international phone lines. Thus, neutralizing the political leadership at one go and ensuring that the bureaucracy towed the line of the Pakistan Army.
When armies move, whether in operational area or in civil areas, they have studied all aspects of the situation, readied adequate firepower to neutralize dissent, and thought out the end game well in advance.
All military coups will have similar patterns, no matter which army conducts it.
Compare the above with the picture painted by former Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, falsely implicating that the political leadership at the highest level was jittery. If the Indian Army was executing a ‘coup’, then the Shashi Kant Sharmas’ of this world would not have the luxury of inviting the former DGMO Lt Gen AK Chaudhary late at night to find out, ‘bataiye kya ho raha hai’ (tell me what is happening?), because in a coup mode the Indian Army and not the bureaucrat would be calling the shots. The former Army Chief Gen VK Singh would not be going to the Supreme Court for redressal of the age controversy. Instead he would be at the helm of affairs and conducting the operations personally to takeover New Delhi.
India being a federal structure all state capitals will also simultaneously required to be brought under the Indian Army’s control, unlike Pakistan where merely Islamabad has to be taken over.
The movement of a mechanized infantry unit without ammunition from Hissar and a paratroopers detachment from Agra late at night on January 16, 2012 were conducting normal routine exercises unrelated to each other. In a huge army, there is continuous training of local units, which are neither projected to the DGMO or to the Army HQs. Also,every Brigade Commander upwards independently is authorized to mobilize his formation within an hour 24x7 and they don’t need permissions for war mobilization.
At the same time, there are always sufficient well-trained and armed troops available in the capital to take over a small city like New Delhi. It really does not require extra troops from outside with two permanent infantry brigades, one artillery brigade, engineers and signal regiments that are stationed in the Capital. In fact, when a new Army Chief takes over, his battle hardened infantry battalion or one of the battalions from his regiment serve in the Capital as a personal honour: a battle hardened infantry battalion by itself is a very lethal force that can create mayhem. Furthermore, since this picture was painted by babu Sharma on 16 January 2012, a huge contingent of Indian Army had already moved into New Delhi for the 26 January Republic Day parade. Hence, no extra troops were required in any case.
Therefore, it is obvious that this great army is not in the business of military coups despite the wherewithal permanently at its disposal at New Delhi!
This was a false alarm purposely created to malign the Indian Army as the Army Chief and the Ministry of Defence were at loggerheads due to the General’s demand to rectify incorrect entry of his date of birth. Further, if the coup was actually taking place, the former Defence Secretary would not have had the luxury of leaking the information to a newspaper to create panic – he would have been effectively neutralised well in time because this is how a professional army executes its tasks. Despite the impediments created by politicians and bureaucrats in terms of paucity of young human resources and necessary equipment, the Indian Army remains extraordinarily professional in its approach of securing the nation’s borders.
The idea of a military coup, therefor, is preposterous and unthinkable in India!
A military coup is simply not feasible otherwise also as India has a federal structure where all the state capitals will be required to be simultaneously brought under the Indian Army’s control. This is not so in Pakistan where only Islamabad has to be taken over.
The continuous and gross neglect of the Indian Army and insulting behavior of the civil administration towards the military is, therefore, a matter of shame. It is time that the Army Chief asserts his dignity to restore the honour of this great army by demanding of the Prime Minister to institute an inquiry into the former Defence Secretary’s obnoxious behavior of creating the false alarm and heaping insults. The guilty must be taken to task.
This will help to quell the rising frustrations and anger within the rank and file of the Indian military.