Military & Aerospace

CIC says Henderson-Brooks report revealed the incompetence of the Indian military top brass
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Issue Net Edition | Date : 27 Aug , 2010


According to The Times of India, Chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said the Henderson-Brooks report revealed the incompetence of the Indian military top brass.

It is not fair of the Chief information Commissioner to speak of the incompetence of the Indian military top brass, without mentioning the names of the politicians who have selected the ‘top brass’. As often, it is the Army which suffered and it is the Army which is been blamed. These remarks were entirely unnecessary.

Henderson-Brooks1The Commission refused to declassify the Henderson Brooks on the ground that it could endanger national security (Click to see CIC order ). The Bench (comprising Chief information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and Information Commissioner ML Sharma) said: “We have examined the report specifically in terms of its bearing on present national security. There is no doubt that the issue of the India- China border particularly along the North-east parts of India is still a live issue with ongoing negotiations between the two countries on this matter.”

Well, it is possible that some portions of the Report mention the five rounds of border talks  between India and China in 1960 or other information related to the border (perhaps the situation in the Aksai Chin), but as it is admitted but the Army Headquarters the Report is only an internal review which did not engage the Army (or the Ministry of External Affairs). Col. Raj Shukla who represented the Army during the hearings said: “The report prepared by Lt. Gen. Henderson Brooks and Brig. Prem Bhagat was a part of internal review conducted on the orders of the then Chief of Army Staff Gen. Choudhary. Reports of internal review are not even submitted to Govt. let alone placed in the public domain. Disclosure of this information will amount to disclosure of the army’s operational strategy in the North-East and the discussion on deployments has a direct bearing on the question of the demarcation of the Line of Actual Control between India and China, a live issue under examination between the two countries at present.”

Zhou-K-copyThe logical thing that the CIC should have done was to ask for the declassification of the Report and request the Army (or the NSA) to sanitize the portions which could jeopardize the current negotiations with China.

The CIC was probably not aware that the Indian Defence Minister had, in reply to a question, announced in the Parliament on April 1, 1963 that an inquiry into the reverses in NEFA had been instituted. The Minister affirmed that a “thorough investigation had been ordered to find out what went wrong with (i) our training; (ii) our equipment; (iii) our system of command; (iv) the physical fitness of our troops and (v) the capacity of our Commanders at all levels to influence the men under them”.

The purpose of the inquiry was to not witch-hunting, he said, but to “derive military lessons” and to “bring out clearly what were the mistakes or deficiencies in the past, so as to ensure that in future the mistakes are not repeated and such deficiencies are quickly made up”. The Inquiry Committee was headed Lt.-Gen. T.B. Henderson-Brooks with Major-General P.S. Bhagat as a member, he announced.

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Claude Arpi

Writes regularly on Tibet, China, India and Indo-French relations. He is the author of 1962 and the McMahon Line Saga, Tibet: The Lost Frontier and Dharamshala and Beijing: the negotiations that never were.

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One thought on “CIC says Henderson-Brooks report revealed the incompetence of the Indian military top brass

  1. Indian Army needs to own the responsibility for their top-down incompetence and stop fooling Indians. For 55 while the politicians bend over backwards to make excuses for military’s incompetence, Army betrays the politicians as well the people of India. Whether directly blame politicians (always Congress but never other parties) or blame the “top brass” appointed by the politicians, the intent to pass the buck. Fact that soldiers were in cotton pants and socks is incompetence of the “low brasses” as well as the brigadiers and colonels. Fact that supplies could not reach these soldeirs was incompetence of the Airforce (top down). Why did army run away abandoning posts at Se Lal and Bomdi La. Viet Cong soldiers went to war against mighty USA in pajamas, bear foot and empty handed. When a comrade died, other too his gun and fired. THAT is bravery and patriotism. When enemy invaded our homes, our soldiers abandoned posts and ran away. THAT is the ugly truth the army needs to own up!

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