Sri Lanka: Reading between the lines on Indian delegation to Colombo

By Col. R. Hariharan

There are both positives and negatives in the reports on the Indian parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Colombo. The reports include a statement of Mrs Sushma Swaraj, the multi-party delegation leader issued at the end of the visit, as well as inputs on the press conference she addressed in Colombo.

Indian Parliamentary delegation to Colombo- Some Observations

By Col. R. Hariharan 

(Here is my response to specific questions raised by media on the Indian parliamentary delegation’s visit to Colombo on April 16, 2016.) 

1.     Is this parliamentary delegation on a goodwill visit or fact finding mission to Colombo? 

The visit is a reciprocal visit from our parliament after a parliamentary delegation from Sri Lanka visited India. Such delegations are regularly exchanged between many countries; in fact a Sri Lanka parliamentary delegation visited Pakistan in February 2011. So the overall objective of this delegation is also presumably to increase the goodwill between Indian and Sri Lankan parliamentarians. 

PM’s Conference on Internal Security – Questions & Answers

By Col R. Hariharan


1.      Prime Minister has said Left Wing extremism remains a major challenge to the internal security of the country? What are your views? 

The Prime Minister had highlighted Left Wing extremism (LWE) as the major threat facing the country in earlier conferences on internal security also. LWE had been there for a long time because it feeds upon existing short comings of governance and works to wreck the effectiveness of the system. So it continues to thrive in states vulnerable to such weaknesses. 

Downside of Media 'scoop' on National Security

By Col. R. Hariharan 

The controversy surrounding the outgoing Army Chief General V. K. Singh’s revelations in the last two months provided an excellent opportunity for the Indian Express Editor’s cleverly constructed “scoop” hinting at the panic created in New Delhi when two military units – a mechanized column and a parachute battalion - moved towards the capital on January 16. Its innuendoes at the establishment’s suspicion about the loyalty of the army drew nation-wide attention. It is significant that a factual news story on lessons army learnt from the same military movement published a month earlier in a news website failed to get the same attention. 

What is the state of readiness of our troops - 5

TV and to a lesser extent print media are increasingly becoming arbiters of many issues of national interest in the real time. As the vie with each other to increase their TRP ratings, truth and objectivity in reporting and analysing events have been pushed back. Their conduct in covering the recent events relating following the Army Chief General VK Singh "episode" has been remarkably murky. Writing about General VK Singh's conduct had been full of innuendoes and sneering contempt.

The worst was the Indian Express front page news story full of snide comments, hinting at the "curious'" (bashfully not uttering the C word) purpose in two army units moving "towards" New Delhi on the day the Army Chief's case in Supreme Court came up for judgment. This had shocked even the worst critics of army and the Army Chief. Many media men have taken the newspaper to task for such unabashed sensationalism. I am reproducing below an hard hitting article by Nitin Gokhale, veteran defence analyst and news editor of NDTV, on the media's conduct in the whole affair for your reading.

The Soldier, the State and the Media

Nitin Gokhale, April 6, 2012

In my three decades of reporting on the Indian military, I have never felt more uneasy about the military-media interface as I have in the past three months.

What is the state of readiness of our troops -4

Continuing the series of articles on the subject, are agents of arms dealers the real culprits for the glitches in our defence procurement? Contrary to many analysts, I hold the view the legitimate agents provide a valuable interface to understand the needs of the user and identify the right sources for procurement. They should be paid a legitimate commission like any other agents in the commercial world. As they are legitimate, transaction will be above board and accountable. They will be paying income and service taxes and their accounts will be open for inspection at any time. This will bring transparency in the transaction.

In 1986, Government of India removed agents as the middle men and decided to directly deal with arms manufacturers. The species of honest middlemen was kept out and under the table wheeler-dealers tookover. And immediately thereafter the Bofors scam hit the national headlines. There seem to be no stopping of scams.

I am reproducing an article, courtesy DNA India, "Confessions of a former arms dealer" written by a former naval officer in support of my argument. The article shows how a legitimate agent can provide valuable service to the armed forces. When we reform the system (WHEN?  is the 64 dollar question), this aspect should also be paid attention.

Confessions of a former arms dealer

Benoy Bhushan, April 4, 2012

What is the state of readiness of our troops - 3

As muckraking continues in the media with the Army Chief General VK Singh as the centre piece, one thing is clear. All is not well the way manage our defence services and run the defence ministry; and it is affecting national security preparedness.

What is the way out? I am reproducing here a pithy article from TR Ramaswami, a retired bureaucrat, who has come out with a workable solution, courtesy Economic Times 

But who is blocking the change? Sheela Bhatt writing in www.rediff.com contends it is the bureaucracy which wants to preserve their hold and are loath to allow any change. If you are interested read her article "Babus now oppose General Singh's vision for MoD" available at URL:

http://www.rediff.com/news/special/babus-now-oppose-general-singhs-vision-for-mod/20120405.htm

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Defence sector needs to be streamlined and reformed to stay relevant in a changing India

T R Ramaswami, Apr 5, 2012

The leaky-weaky-snafu-cum-imbroglio in the defence sector has provoked very interesting reactions and suggestions. Historically, armies have been around millenniums before the words 'democracy', 'parliament' and 'civil service' came about.

What is the state of readiness of our troops - 2

The unseemly controversy surrounding the Army Chief General VK Singh does not seem to be dying out. It got further complicated when a front page scoop in the Indian Express by the editor-in-chief, hinted at New Delhi's panic reaction when two army units moved towards New Delhi the day General VK Singh's case came up for judgement in the Supreme Court. Although, the sensational story was of dubious construction, and vehemently denied by the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, the damage has been done to the reputation of the Army Chief and the Army - the innuendoes questioning their patriotism was obvious.

In this context, I am reproducing another article by General VP Malik, former Chief of Army Staff, that appeared in the Tehelka today, courtesy Tehelka Magazine for your reading.   

Army should not look like it's losing its values

VP Malik, Former Chief Of Army Staff

As A former Chief of Army Staff, I have no hesitation in admitting that the unprecedented events of the last few days have deeply damaged the reputation of a very precious institution. One is tempted to say in despair, what is left?

What is the status of readiness of our troops?

Recently, when the Army Chief General VK Singh’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drawing his attention to weakening of military capability of army due to gross deficiencies in its armament and weaponry was leaked to the media by vested interests the immediate reaction was astounding. 

Some of the retired senior army officers, media pundits and politicians focused on peripheral issues like the threat to national security by the leak, “impropriety” of the Chief writing to the Prime Minister, or suspecting the veracity of the Chief's damaging assessment rather than dealing with the damaging contents of the letter. Some even wanted to ‘sack’ the Chief! A former National Security Adviser in his geriatric wisdom Called the Army Chief worst ever and wanted him to be shut up!

What is the truth? What is the actual status of readiness of our forces to face threats to national security.  This question is answered by the no-holds-barred article by Bharat Verma.

Subterranean threats to India-Sri Lanka relations

By Col. R. Hariharan 

According to a news item in the Colombo daily “The Island,” Sri Lanka intelligence services have received information that around 150 terrorists who returned to Sri Lanka from India were now hiding in the North and the East. They are reported to have undergone “a special arms training at three secret camps in Tamil Nadu” to carry out a de-stablisation campaign.

Three alleged LTTE cadres arrested after a member of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) was hacked to death gave out the information when they were interrogated.  

Quoting police sources the news item said the suspects claimed they had fled to India after the LTTE’s defeat and underwent “refresher military courses” in secret locations in Tamil Nadu before returning to Sri Lanka disguised as fishermen. As the LTTE links of the three suspects were established, they had been handed over to the Terrorist Investigation Department, police sources added, according to the report.