Quick take: Hyderabad blasts

Col R Hariharan

[This background paper was used for a TV discussion by Col Hariharan on February 22, 2013. It was based on open source information]

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Two improvised explosive devices (IED) kept in tiffin boxes strapped to bicycles had exploded minutes apart, in Dilsukh Nagar, a congested Hyderabad suburb, around 7 pm on February 22. So far 17 people are reported to have died. Over 100 people were injured – some of them seriously – in the explosions. The area, which was also the scene of an earlier terrorist strike, has two cinema theatres. The explosions occurred 200 yards from a popular Sai Baba temple which is crowded located in the area where devotees throng on Thursdays.

The legacy of Gen VK Singh

The just completed tenure of General VK Singh as Chief of Army Staff will be remembered as an epoch making one. It was marked by a series of controversies as single handedly he tried to clean up an entrenched corrupt system. I am reproducing an interesting analysis of the legacy General VK Singh leaves behind by Lt General Harwant Singh, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, that had appeared in the Hindustan Times (Chandigarh edition) for your reading.                                               

Gen VK Singh's legacy

By  Lt-Gen Harwant Singh ( Retd )
                     
Much has been written in the press and much more discussed on TV channels as to Gen VK Singh’s legacy. Equally there have been controversies and allegations on his conduct, relations with the MoD and with senior officers within the army. It is time to examine the issues in their correct perspective and close this chapter of accusations and counter charges. 

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.

The burden of heading 1.3 million-strong Army

Col R Hariharan

The Defence Minister took four months to reject the statutory complaint from his own Army chief.

Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju has aptly summed up the government’s largely self-created mess, after Army chief Gen V K Singh petitioned the Supreme Court to get his date of birth in the government records corrected: “It is an unfortunate development and it is not a healthy precedent either for the ministry or the armed forces…It is an unhealthy precedent. It does not augur well either for the ministry or the forces,” he said.

Sri Lanka Perspectives - September 2011

By Col R Hariharan

President Rajapaksa’s address to UN General Assembly

For Sri Lankans, the highlight of the month was President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s address at the UN General Assembly. In his speech, the President skirted the human rights issues and allegations of war crimes for which Sri Lanka had come under strong criticism. Similarly he gave a broad brush to the Tamil political question also. He focused on the rehabilitation and developmental activity undertaken by his government in the postwar period. He averred “the remarkable growth of 22% of the economy of the Northern Province” was a clear indication of the success achieved” by his government’s initiatives on development in the North.  The President cited the moving up of Sri Lanka from the 52^nd to 79^th rank in the assessment by the World Economic Forum as a testimony to overall economic progress made by his country.

First takeaways from Delhi blast

By Col. R Hariharan

Terrorists have struck once again in Delhi taking the historical count of such attacks to more than a dozen. Apart from the tragic loss of lives of innocent public, the repeated terror attacks in Delhi have exposed the soft underbelly of India's fight against terrorism.

Unfortunately in our country one can almost predict the immediate response to terrorist attacks because it is so pedestrian - Prime Minister assures the nation terrorists would be brought to book, opposition leaders blame the government for its soft attitude to terrorism, media blames the police, and everyone calls it intelligence failure.

Lashkar terrorists struck Mumbai and went on a rampage on a fateful day - November 26, 2008 - many probably expected India to react like the U.S. did after 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks. But India is not the U.S.

Why Anna Hazare's movement is first of its kind?

I am amazed that Anna had been able to achieve what no political party or movement has ever before been able to do -- create a national focus, says Col (retd) R Hariharan [ Images ]

This is the first poser that comes to mind when we see thousands of people in whom he raised hopes rejoicing in the streets. The answer depends upon how we see Anna Hazare's campaign. We can answer the question better after understanding what he did achieve and what he did not. Here is my take.

I have been listening to cliché-ridden sanctimonious speeches of political leaders delivered in a monotonous tone that put me to sleep for nearly four decades now; the latest one of this genre was Dr Manmohan Singh's [ Images ] Independence Day address. This painful exercise coupled with watching corpulent Parliament members walking in and out of Parliament on non-issues with feigned indignation beamed on Lok Sabha TV has turned me quite cynical about our "democratic process". This cynicism had been further reinforced after watching our lawmakers in disorderly conduct on the floor of the House with increasing frequency. In fact, I advise parents not to let their kids to watch our Lok Sabha proceedings lest the young minds consider them as standard parliamentary procedure and perpetuate it.  

"A battle we must not lose "

Columnists of all hues had been working overtime to write about Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill and anti-corruption movement. Many of these columnists have tried to interpret, what is surely a mass movement that has inspired IIT students the same way as it had done with Bombay Dabbawalas, from their own entrenched views and agendas. Among all these articles I think it is Pritish Nandy's piece given below appears to pragmatically explain what Team Anna is trying to do.  The Jan Lokpal Bill is not a movement against politicians or leaders or parliament but against corruption, lack of accountability and ignoring peoples problems.

Read on and make up your mind.

 "A battle we must not lose "

By Pritish Nandy

Forget Anna Hazare. The Jan Lokpal movement can go to hell for all I care. Let us just look at the issues over which the battle between the Government and us citizens is being fought. And then let’s decide where we want to stand, each one of us, on the issue of corruption.

Military losing its shine - Time to recast short service commission

Lt Gen Harwant Singh

In a developing economy, rapid industrialization and a country well on the road to prosperity, preference for government jobs tends to decline. This has not happened in India so far due to a number of reasons. One, government jobs offer unmatched security of employment, two, seniority overrides merit, three, mediocrity prospers, promotions are plentiful and finally, there is much rent to be collected with minimum risk. Government employees have still not shed the colonial era hang-ups of being masters and not public servants: ego and false notions of status persists.  

Sri Lanka: FAQs on Channel 4 Videos on War Crimes

Col R Hariharan

  

I have received a number of mails asking for my comments on the Channel 4 video ‘Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’ on alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan Army, particularly after I participated in a panel discussion on Headlines Today TV channel recently. I am giving my views and comments on questions summarised below:  

Question 1: Do you think the Sri Lanka army’s war crimes depicted graphically on Channel 4 video are true?

There are two issues related to the allegations war crimes.

First is whether the video footage is genuine or not; the footage has been examined by international experts (including some from the UN) who believe they are original. However, Sri Lanka government’s experts claim they are doctored. I feel the video establishes a prima facie case for an international commission to look into the war crimes allegation; the same commission can also get the video footage examined by neutral experts in the course of its inquiry.

Sri Lanka Perspectives: June 2011

By Col R Hariharan

Sri Lanka- India relations

The recent political changes in Tamil Nadu and the stodgy attitude of Sri Lanka to increasing Indian concerns on a whole lot of issues connected with Tamil minority and the Eelam war appear to have started having its adverse impact on Sri Lanka-India ties. In a frank assessment, India’s prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in an interaction with selected editors of Indian media vocalised India’s concerns. He acknowledged his dilemma in handling Sri Lanka Tamil issue calling the grievances of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka ‘legitimate.’ He said the Tamils felt “they are reduced to second-class citizens.” He said that within the Sri Lanka population there were hotheads, and “the Sinhala chauvinism is a reality.”

Promoting crisis within the military

An ongoing spat between the MoD and Army HQ is keeping key positions empty. A codified army promotion policy will put an end to such face-offs by Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 5th Apr 11 South Block is being roiled by a face-off between military and the ministry of defence (MoD), which co-exist at the best of times in mutual loathing. Since September, the MoD has blocked the routine promotion of army officers to the senior-most levels of command. Today, the commanders of several army divisions and corps – combat formations that are headed by major generals and lieutenant generals, respectively – are serving extended tenures since nobody is being promoted to relieve them. The Indian Army’s elite 1 Corps, which strikes deep into enemy territory in war, currently has no commander. Two major general posts in the crucial Military Operations Directorate and one in Military Intelligence Directorate are lying vacant.

Crime and Punishment - Army Style

Recently Lt Gen Sahni, a three star general, was dismissed from the army and awarded a prison sentence for corruption in his dealings. In this context I read an insightful article by former vice chief of army staff Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi highlighting the promptness with which army deals with crime in its ranks.  I am reproducing Gen Oberoi's article here for your reading. Readers comments are welcome.

  

Crime and Punishment

By Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi (Retd.)

 [LEARN FROM THE ARMY. Justice is prompt in the Indian Army; there is no shielding of a person on account of his rank or stature. It's time babus and politicians were put through similar scrutiny]

When Lt Gen Sahni, a three star general, is dismissed and awarded a prison sentence, one can conclude that the army does not baulk in punishing its defaulting personnel, irrespective of their seniority. It also calls for introspection by the society on larger issues.