What after the Deployment?
10 Apr, 2002 · 729
Brig SS Chandel questions the wisdom of the prolonged deployment of troops along the border
Three months ago when the Government of India took the decision to deploy its armed forces after much saber-rattling and many bellicose statements, one was left wondering whether it had a grand plan like the Schlieffen - Manstein plan of Germany even though from one's awareness of the thought processes and functioning of our armed forces, such a possibility seemed remote. All doubts seem to be clear now. Our deployment at best, have achieved a degree of attenuation in infiltration although bomb blasts, attacks on police posts and acts of terrorism in J&K continue. These are being aided and abetted by the fifth columnists within the country, witness the Godhra incident.
Pakistan
with the vast military equipment made available to them especially from
Saudi Arabia
? Three, do we have any hard strategic plans to see through our war aims? Four, will the
US
permit its currently valuable ally in its present ‘War against Terror’ to be fractured or destroyed by
India
, more so when both sides are overtly nuclear capable? Five, what will be the attitude and response of
China
in such an eventuality?
Pakistan
has been their close ally for nearly three decades. Will they activate the eastern front? Six, how will Middle Eastern Muslim countries who are friendly with us react to what will be considered an overt aggression a la
Israel
? Will they freeze our oil supplies? Seventh, at the ground level, we have lost the advantage of surprise which could accrue to us in a sharp and a very short war in the present nuclear scenario. By now
Pakistan
would surely have catered for all military contingencies. Eight, if the aim was to stop/curb cross border terrorism in J&K, what is the rationale in deploying all our troops all along our western borders?
The deleterious effects are less perceptible. They are in the nature of huge economic burden. According to The Economic Times, Rs. 4000 crores (US $ 870 million) is being incurred in the form of wear and tear of equipment, and excessive expenditure of petroleum, oil and lubricants, degradation of equipment, running out of spares and the expenses incurred in supplying troops at the borders. For instance, a litre of tetra pack milk costs about Rs.100 (US $ 2.1) including the transportation. Above all there is gradual erosion of morale. Even though the Defence Minister will have us believe otherwise, the stark fact is that the combat arms, specially the Infantry which gets less than three years in peace stations will have to do with far less. All this would have been endurable if we were achieving some tangible results by way of elimination or at least substantial diminution of terrorist attacks in J&K. Nothing of the sort has happened. So what has gone wrong?
Most likely, the decision was taken in a huff without sufficient hard thinking about eight pertinent issues. One, what is the war aim of the country? Two, is it achievable given our military parity with
The above review suggests that this all out deployment of the Indian Army has become a tired joke. The sooner we find a way out of this quagmire, the better for every body.
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