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From military coup to toppling J&K government
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Not long ago a national newspaper, of considerable standing, ‘in headlines’ on its front page had created a stir amongst the public by raising the specter of a military coup, engineered by the then army chief. The provocation was the move of two minor units (in all 1000 soldiers ) towards Delhi, at a time when army chief’s case concerning his date of birth was being taken up with the supreme court. At any one time there are over thirty thousand troops in Delhi cantonment, so how did another thousand matter! Now the same paper on its front page, notes, ‘Undesirable activities by a rouge intelligence unit of the army’ undertaken by the same army chief (now retired.)
The equipment under reference is for intercepting radio communications and was purchased and held by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which is part of the MoD and not the army.
No Lessons Learnt
The story of coup at Delhi turned out to be hoax: a creation entirely of that paper. Though the paper ended up with an egg on its face, it has learnt no lesson and has now put out another daft story of snooping on ministry of defence (MoD) and toppling a state government, just because the government of that state wants the removal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, (AFSPA) . The paper may not know that this noise about removal of AFSPA is purely for public consumption. Behind closed doors the state government’s stand is different. Tell that government that the army is being pulled out from internal security duties from the state and you will see the panic in that very government. For the military, counterterrorist operations in J and K, are of no great interest and is the least preferred task. It is there on this job because the state and central police simply cannot measure upto the task.
It is alleged that a sum of Rs 1.9 crore was used to destabilize the present state government, but it stops short of telling us the amount required to dislodge the central government! The paper may not know that the government, which would have replaced the present set-up in J and K would be more vocal in removal of AFSPA and is known to be hostile towards the army.
Equipment in Question
The equipment under reference is for intercepting radio communications and was purchased and held by the National Intelligence Agency ( NIA ) which is part of the MoD and not the army. However such equipment is essential for the army deployed on counter terrorist tasks to get to locate, ‘enemy intelligence cells’ and others involved in terrorist activities. Our ammunition dump at Poonch is well tucked behind a high ridge and it is near impossible for the Pak artillery to score a hit, unless someone nearby can correct fire by constantly passing information to Pak guns. During ‘Kirni operation.’ Pak scored a hit on this dump and destroyed part of the ammunition and we had no means to locate the mole who was directing Pak artillery fire. The same was the case at Kargil when Pak hit our ammunition dump and we had no means to locate and hunt out that mole. Army required such an equipment on priority but never got it. To allege that army had deployed some of this equipment to know what was going on in the MoD is absurd. Firstly, this equipment was never with the army and secondly nothing worthwhile takes place in that ministry for one to snoop!
The dimensions of the case and sustained witch hunting of an army chief and its possible implication for the army as an institution are of such far reaching consequences, that an enquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court is warranted.
Absurd Allegation
Allegation of attempts to alter the line of accession, for the post of the army chief, is equally absurd. No one, other than the government, can do this and it did so on two previous occasions. First in the case of Lt-Gen Prem Bhagat, VC and second in the case of Lt-Gen Sinha, for no valid reason except to have a pliable replacement: against the best interest of the army and the nation.
This report on the actions of military intelligence ( albeit NIA ) and VK Singh’s involvement in all this was given to the defence minister sometime in March, 2013 and now towards the end of Sep, 2013 it has been dug out, soon after Gen ( Retd ) VK Singh attended an ex-servicemen rally addressed by Modi. Even the dumb witted can connect the two events.
It may be recalled that this very paper had highlighted the leakage of Top–Secret letter written by VK Singh to the PM and pointed the finger of suspicion at VK Singh. Nothing came of the CBI enquiry, because the leakage had allegedly taken place from the office of the cabinet secretary and that a lady officer was involved.
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There is a perceptible fall of standards of journalism. Remember, the editor of another paper published a series of articles, under his name, on the age row of VK Singh and pray who was the actual author of those articles! The dimensions of the case and sustained witch hunting of an army chief and its possible implication for the army as an institution are of such far reaching consequences, that an enquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court is warranted.
Courtesy: HT (Chandigarh edition)
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14 thoughts on “From military coup to toppling J&K government”
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“Our ammunition dump at Poonch is well tucked behind a high ridge and it is near impossible for the Pak artillery to score a hit, unless someone nearby can correct fire by constantly passing information to Pak guns. During ‘Kirni operation.’ Pak scored a hit on this dump and destroyed part of the ammunition and we had no means to locate the mole who was directing Pak artillery fire. The same was the case at Kargil when Pak hit our ammunition dump and we had no means to locate and hunt out that mole.”
Have you heard of Google Maps?
If 1.9 crores is all it takes to topple a duly elected State Govt, then the IE couldn’t have been paid more than Rs.100-200 to print the ludicrous “revelations”. Perhaps the Editor in his individual capacity would salivate on being offered about Rs.100 for his total subservience !!!
What the machinations of the You Pay Too Govt demonstrate is that they have contempt for the intelligence of India’s vote fodder. Whether this is as well founded as the last sixty six years prove or hubris, 2014 might establish.
if files in connection with coalgate can allegedly be stolen from PMO then, alleged military coup information could also be making its way into it.As long as we have a sycophant head of the state with a parasitic cabinet and a hyenna babudom, anything is possible.Those who are the saviours of the nation will be witch-hunted whereas, the satanic followers with demonic actions will be hailed as ‘hafeez sahib’, ‘ajmal kasabji’, ‘some suspicious looking armed men in pork-army dress’ and ‘osama bin laden ji’.
COAS INSTITUTE IS IN PITIABLE STATE AND HOPE SOME BETTER SENSE PREVAILS SO AS TO SPARE IT.
In the first place our people are ill educated about Def services & their comments are obnoxious to bilittle Army chief as well as the services.We r a laughing stock in the world.God give them some wisdom and grace. I hope they further dont rub the services on the wrong side.
Excellent article
Indian Express is a Newspaper run by Congressi Morons.
They seriously thought 1.9 crores is enough to topple a state government in India?
The IE might be the only daily to stand and oppose the Emergency, but With the kind of reporting it has been doing in recent times, it seems it is facing an emergency from within or outside.. !
Please note that Indian Express was the only paper to stand up and oppose the Emergency. It has always stood for the independence of the press.
Shekhar Gupta paying price of padma bhusan he got, i wonder he stooped to such extent gen singh must get the copy of the report through rti and seek an investigation aakhir pata toh chale hamam mein kitne nange hain jo three piece suit mein ghoom rahre hain!!!
report was submitted to government way back in march and it has been leaked now.its not complex to understand the motive of the government.they can destroy anything for their gain,they just want to rule and acquire wealth nothing else.they are just reflecting the traits of our society…dnt we do the same things in our day to day life.
One or maybe two wrong analyses does not imply that we throw the baby with the bath water.