News & Analyses

Taming all odds

2014-03-02T14:52:00.000+05:30

The intrepid man has been on the top of the world five times. The incredible woman has opened the way for other Indians to the southernmost tip of the earth. There can be no couple quite as ‘poles apart’ as the adventurous Dharmshaktus

The Dharmshaktus are a couple unlike any you will encounter in this country. Bound by a shared love for high adventure, they have earned name and fame by touching opposite ends of the planet. Having done so, they complement each other to perfection.

Meet Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, 40, who has climbed Mount Everest, the earth’s highest point on Earth, as many as five times.

His wife, Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu, 38, herself no mean mountaineer, is the first Indian to reach the South Pole, the earth’s lowest point. Her feat opened a route that was later taken by a team of Indian soldiers.

Like true mountaineers, the couple has come up the hard way. But they aren’t the kind of people who thrive on seeking hosannas for their battles against the odds. They see every obstacle as an integral part of life.

Says Love Raj: “Nobody knows about the period when we were toiling away in complete oblivion. Today we are feted because our achievements are in the public eye.”

Love Raj is an Assistant Commandant in the Border Security Force (BSF). He was a 16-year-old student when, in 1989, he joined a group of people who pooled money together to undertake an expedition to the peak of Nanda Kot in Uttarakhand. Since then he has been atop more than 40 mountain peaks.

Love Raj, who belongs to Bona village nestled in the Kumaon hills at a height of 2200 metres and a distance of 35 km from Munsiyari, has fond memories of his very first expedition.

At 6861 metres, Nanda Kot is the highest peak in the impressive arc of mountains guarding the Pindari Glacier area. He was a very fit boy. He did all sorts of odd jobs for the expedition. While some of the experienced porters struggled to make their forward, the sprightly Love Raj literally ambled up to the peak.

Although he was well and truly bitten by the mountaineering bug, Love Raj had no way of knowing at that point of his life that he would one day be beckoned by the biggest one of them all, Sagarmatha (that is what Mount Everest is called in reverence in Nepal).

He had to face many obstacles on the way. His family was opposed to his passion, while there was little support from the government. But some members of a mountaineering club based in Lucknow suggested to the young man that should go in for a formal adventure course.

He did just that with help from the office of UP Tourism’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Uttarkashi. The facility provided a taste of adventure to school students, teachers and other young people. Love Raj worked there as a help earning Rs 75 a day.

In 1990, he did his Basic Mountaineering Course from the town’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM).

Today he is armed with every degree that is possible to acquire in this domain, including Advanced Mountaineering, Search & Rescue and Method of Instruction.

The Dharmshaktus are the only couple to have been awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, the country’s highest accolade.

The five-time Everest conqueror missed making it to the summit on two other occasions due to circumstances beyond his control.

In 1999, noted mountaineer Santosh Yadav led an Indian expedition to Everest’s Kangshung Face, among the toughest mountain faces in the world. Love Raj was a part of the team. Between Camp 2 and Camp 3, he was hit by a falling stone that smashed his goggles and injured his eye. He had to be evacuated.

Two years later, Love Raj was back on another Everest expedition led by Santosh, this time from the East Face. The team got to the highest point.

He has been part of BSF expeditions to Satopanth (7075m), Kamet (7756m), Mana (7274m) and Abi Gamin (7355m). In 2006, he reached the top of Everest with a BSF expedition. In 2008, he successfully climbed Kanchenjunga (8586m) as a member of another BSF team.

In 2009, as climbing leader on NIM’s Everest expedition, Love Raj reached the summit for a third time. His fourth time on the summit of Everest was in May 2012. He was part of the Eco Everest Expedition organised by Nepal’s Asian Trekking. Love Raj was sponsored by Woodland, the well-known shoe and apparel brand.

By this time, Love Raj could see that the mountains were choking on garbage left behind by climbers. So, on this sortie, Love Raj and his team members cleaned up the mess.

On May 21, 2013, Love Raj reached the top of Everest for the fifth time.

It was their love for the mountains that brought Love Raj and Reena together. They first met in 2002 during an expedition in Ladakh. After several more such meetings on other outings, they tied the knot in 2004.

Reena received her training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling and has been on IMF expeditions to Gangotri 1, the first ascent of Argan Kangri, Fluted Peak, Stock Kangri, Phawararang, Mt Nun and others.

In 2009, she was among the women from seven countries who were selected for the Kaspersky Antarctic Expedition mounted to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth. For Reena, who edged out 116 competitors, it represented a unique achievement.

This was a very tough journey. As a part of the team, she skied for 38 days for eight to 10 hours a day, traversing a 915-km path through one of the coldest and most desolate regions of the world and reached the trademark mirror ball in the middle of nowhere that marks the geographic South Pole. She became the first Indian woman to ski to the southern-most tip of the Earth.

This arduous journey was through the incredibly cold crevasses hundreds of metres deep where they had to tow their 80-kg sledges in the icy wilderness.

“I struggled in life. No work on any expedition was below my dignity. That shaped my character and even now I don’t hesitate to do any work on an expedition. I know struggle and I know when someone else is struggling,” she says.

It bothers the couple no end when they see today’s boys and girls being given so much comfort in life that they lose the intrinsic human power and desire to explore the extremes of their mind and body.

Reena says, “Their sedentary lifestyle leaves our young girls and boys bereft of the spirit of leadership and adventure that is so crucial in development.”

Love Raj, on his part, rues the fact that in cricket-crazy India, mountaineering is not even regarded as sport. “Moreover, it is an expensive sport on account of the equipment and resources required. It needs more support from the government and the corporate world.”

He acknowledges the contribution of the Border Security Force to his life. “Had I not been part of BSF I would have not been what I am today. The force has helped me a lot.”

Reena is currently a freelance instructor with the US-headquartered National Outdoor Leadership Schools (NOLS) that teaches outdoor skills to people. She now wants to spread awareness about conserving the environment.

She says, “The careless attitude of many climbers is destroying the beauty of the magnificent Himalayas.”

Reena was part of a 15-woman cycling expedition -- Go Green Girls – from Kolkata to Kanyakumari, covering nearly 3000 km in 35 days in early 2011 and promote a clean, green and healthy environment.

Love Raj and Reena are blessed with a son who is 13 months old. They have named him Ozas Tenzing Dharmshaktu drawing inspiration from Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.

Their desire is to motivate people to come out of their shells to achieve more not only for themselves but for the planet. They are thinking of campaigns to apprise people of the damage which we have been doing to the environment. To this end, they intend to visit schools, speak to children and motivate them to push the boundaries of physical endeavour.

Mayank Singh |

Not Enough to Die For

2014-01-20T08:30:00.000+05:30

Lack of opportunities and an adequate redress mechanism system have led to 50,000 men quitting the paramilitary forces in the last five years, says Mayank Singh

In the winter session of the Parliament, minister of state for home RPN Singh had some startling figures to disclose. He told the house that more than 9,000 personnel from India’s elite paramilitary forces had quit their jobs even in the uncertainity of severe economic recession. Singh was merely touching the tip of an iceberg. In the last five years more than 50,000 men have quit the paramilitary forces in India.

While the number may not seem too big as compared to the overall strength of 10 lakh paramilitary forces, it does point to an extremely disturbing trend. Lack of promotions, a flawed grievance redressal system and utter apathy of policy makers are going to severely hamper the trajectory of the forces that are the main up keepers of law and order and internal security inside the country.

And their duties are onerous, to say the least. From being posted in terror-hit areas to high mountains; from deserts to the coast line, from industrial safety to tackling Maoists, paramilitary forces have their hands full in every sense of the word. It is on them that the government depends to keep its internal house in order.

It is not that sections in the government are not aware of the difficult situation that the brave men are in; it is just that they do not care. IIM Ahmedabad was asked to study the main ills plaguing the paramilitary forces in 2012; in 2011 the Institute of Defence Study and Analyses (IDSA) conducted a study on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the many problems confronting the force. These are in addition to several ministry of home affairs and the forces’ own internal reports and memos dealing with the plight of uniformed personnel that do their job without asking questions, often at the cost of their lives.

Consider this. In 2012-2013, eight cases which involves officers of senior and junior ranks of the CRPF, Border Security Forces (BSF), Indo-Tibetian Border Police (ITBP), Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have moved various courts on issues pertaining to promotion and financial parity. Quite similar to demands made in many government organisations but with one crucial difference: it has a direct repercussion on life and citizens of India.

Take Naxalism. In 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh singled out Naxalism as the biggest security challenge that faced the country. If that is indeed the case then it is clear that the enemy within the country poses a bigger threat to the people than the enemy sitting behind the borders.

Why are things going out of control? Officers say the redressal grievances system within individual paramilitary forces has gone for a toss. The two things uppermost on their minds are non-functional financial upgradation and avenues for greater opportunities, both of which officials say they have been denied despite orders issued and decisions taken.

An officer, who speaks for many, points out: “We are part of uniformed services which are ready to fulfill our duty towards the country but it appears that people are not bothered about problems which concern us.” He is right; the obstacle of promotions – even a single one - have benighted the forces for decades, without any succor in sight and without any apparent concern from the powers that be.

For instance, batches are waiting for the last decade to get to the next ladder; a second-in-command (S in C) to a deputy commandant or commandant. The BSF has deputy commandants who have spent time in office for a minimum of five years, if not more and will most likely to remain there for another seven years to become S in C! The CRPF is faced with more of the same. An officer told TSI that till 2018 there will only be maximum of 50 promotions in the middle and higher ranks in the CRPF, which makes promotions look like a lottery scheme.

Just how apathetic the system is can be gauged from the fact that the batches who have got their promotions were plain lucky: it did not happen because of any policy changes or the fact that their long-standing demands had been looked into; it happened because in order to counter the ever-rising internal security threats to the nation, additional recruitment of paramilitary was deemed necessary by the powers that be.

Naturally, up the ladder too, the situation remains similar. Batches will superannuate after one single promotion from assistant commandant to deputy commandant as every promotion in paramilitary forces is vacancy-based. Since there are no vacancies in the immediate foreseeable future, there is hurry to leave a tough paramilitary life for a vocation which is softer and offers better dividends. The situation in the ranks is even more alarming. A constable rises to become a havaldar after a whopping 18 years and with more and more of them being educated than before, life outside the forces appear as a better option.

There are other side effects as frustrations are mounting. According to a 2012 ministry of home affairs report, nearly 400 paramilitary men committed suicide or died in fratricide incidents since 2009, which is more than the number of paramilitary men killed in action fighting terrorists. The deaths since 2009 due to suicides and fratricides in the paramilitary forces are higher than similar casualties reported in the Indian army.

The irony here is that the Parliament has been kept well informed on all developments and MPs have from time to time shed some crocodile tears - without much avail.

Officers say the out flux has been triggered off by the lack of any policy to support, rehabilitate or resettle men who have served the nation. There is little or no help for families queuing up for medical problems and obviously there can be no way associations will be allowed to be set up, leaving average personnel with little choice but to approach civil courts.

Interestingly, possible solutions have been put forth by the Sixth Pay Commission itself which had suggested non-functional financial upgradation as an incentive to keep employees motivated. The system defeats common sense. Notwithstanding the next promotion, an officer in most of Group A services get the financial benefits of his next rank within the stipulated time. But this sound logic does not apply to those serving their hardest postings, for instance the Dandkaranya region of central India which extends over an area of about 35,600 square miles and includes parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. In the last decade or so, it has emerged as the hotbed of Maoism in India and is patrolled and guarded by various paramilitary outfits. It also does not apply to those forces called at short notices to quell rioters in various parts of the country and help in the fair conduct and national and state elections. This is the just reward for serving life threatening beats!
Mayank Singh |

A Man No Cliff Can Stop

2013-12-06T16:43:00.000+05:30

This isn’t exactly a rags-to-riches story, but is every inch as exciting. Major Ranveer Singh Jamwal did not start life in penury, nor is he rolling in wealth. But what he possesses in abundance is grit, an attribute that has propelled him to the summit of Mount Everest twice in a span of less than 12 months.

Needless to say, Jamwal is no ordinary climber. He has not only led a record number of 20 climbers to the summit in a single expedition, but also masterminded a successful campaign to clean up the mountain that he has scaled.

Major Jamwal, decorated with the Vishisht Sewa Medal (VSM) this year for his courage and leadership qualities, grew up in the nondescript village of Badhori in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. He always dreamed of joining the Army and made it to the ranks as an ordinary soldier of the Dogra Regiment. He subsequently became a commissioned officer. Today, he is a proud officer of the Jat Regiment.

His feats as a mountaineer may not have made him a household name, but has fetched Jamwal the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award. He received the nation’s highest award in the field of adventure from President Pranab Mukherjee on August 31 last.

Jammy, as his friends call him, is effusive in his praise of the Army. “I am a typical soldier who is ready to give his best in everything I am asked to do. Whatever I have achieved is a result of the constant encouragement I have received from my seniors,” he says.

Jamwal’s father, Onkar Singh, is a retired havaldar of the Army from whom he imbibed the virtues of hard work and tenacity. The major’s motto has always been: ‘do not think in terms of limitations; always think in terms of possibilities’.

He joined the army on October 24, 1994. The officers of Dogra Regiment guided him through the early years. With his hard work, dedication and will power, he cleared the officer examination (Army Cadets College) and joined the Indian Military Academy in 1998 and got commissioned as an officer in the Jat Regiment in June 2002.

He was always inclined towards sports. The army proved to be a catalyst for what began as a voluntary course in mountaineering at the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS), Gulmarg. He was adjudged the best student and was posted back to the HAWS as an instructor.

He was then sent to Switzerland for a course in mountain search and rescue operations. There, too, he was rated the best student. Armed with skills thus acquired, Jamwal has saved many lives since.

Major Jamwal says, “Every person in my regiment used to be aware of every step forward that I took. They all wanted me to do well. In fact, I am indebted to my regiment, my unit and my commanding officer Colonel TS Hothi. They were always there in every difficulty.”

His family, too, has been a constant source of motivation. He mentions his father, mother, younger brother, wife and two children.

Says Jamwal: “Every award and recognition is actually shared by my parents, wife and children for they never burdened me with any responsibility related to the family.” He is especially grateful to his wife, Kiran, who raised their two children while he pursued his dream.

Says Kiran: “I wanted him to be the best in whatever he was doing. We as a family feel good that he has made the Army and the country proud.”

When their first child, Daksh, was born in 2007 Jamwal was in Switzerland. It was only when complications developed during the birth of their second child in 2012 that Jamwal left the training of the first army women officers Everest expedition in Siachen.

Jamwal was on the summit by the side of the first IAS officer to climb Mount Everest, Ravindra Kumar. Says the latter about Jamwal, “Once you are at base camp, the focus is on being safe and reaching the summit. That makes people very cautious. But here was a man who was always laughing even in the most difficult conditions and was ready to leave his safe area to assist others. He is a born leader and motivator, but is very strict on discipline.”

Major Jamwal plans to achieve the feat of conquering the highest points of all the seven continents.

Leading the joint Indo-Nepal Army Everest Expedition in 2013, Jamwal created a record of leading 20 climbers to the top of the world on May 19, 2013. By then he had already been part of several successful expeditions. He was deputy leader of the Indian Army Women’s Expedition in 2012 in which he led the climbing team to the top of Mt Everest on May 25, 2012. All seven women climbers reached the summit.

Thus the officer has the distinction of scaling Everest twice in a span of less than 12 months. During his second climb to the summit, he had planned for more than just an expedition. He motivated his team and they for the first time not only participated in Everest marathon (highest marathon in the world) but also claimed first and third positions.

His passion for climbing has taken him to other continents as well. He has scaled Mt Aconcagua, the highest peak of the South America continent, and Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak of Africa.

Each summit has been a test for him, none less demanding than Mount Mana, which is technically the most difficult peak in India. It is here that his training enabled him to save many lives.

In the process of saving his men he overlooked his own safety. He suffered severe frostbite, necessitating the amputation of one finger. Because of his selfless devotion and fearless leadership, the officer was awarded Chief of Army Commendation Card.

He has been actively involved in various rescue expeditions in J&K and Garhwal Himalayas. In 2012, he was selected to lead the climbers of the Indian and UK armies to an unclimbed peak. Right after reaching the summit, he volunteered to go for a rescue expedition to Mt Kedar Dome where five climbers were trapped in an avalanche. He was involved in saving the lives of six soldiers and four civilians in Gurez in 2008.

He and his team made a mark in the history of mountaineering by cleaning 4000 kg of non-biodegradable waste from Everest and the higher camps. The Government of Nepal acknowledged this feat and he was also was awarded an appreciation certificate by Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee.

Ravindra Kumar says, “Jamwal has a lot of respect for the mountains. He collected garbage not for completing a task but because he wishes to see it clean.”

Now, the only thing that Jamwal wishes is to see his parents, especially his mother, happy. He believes his mother had to sacrifice a lot as father used to be away. Omkar Singh is a veteran of three wars of 1962, 1965 and 1971.

Surjit Singh Slathia, the Member of Legislative Assembly representing the constituency to which Major Jamwal belongs, says, “We are proud of his achievements as he has brought laurels to our country and to Jammu and Kashmir. I will provide all the assistance and will even request our Chief Minister to extend all the support so that he becomes a figure to emulate.” He is after all a true hero.

A matter of honour

2013-07-01T07:30:00.000+05:30

Lanky Peer Mohammed Ummer from Anantnag has succeeded in fulfilling his father’s ultimate dream. He has joined Indian Army’s Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment (JAK LI), a unit his father served with distinction for 26 years.

Soldier Ummer is the only brother among five sisters and despite his father’s death in 2000, the family was very keen he takes over the mantle of warrior. So when Ummer recently marched at the attestation parade at Srinagar’s JAK LI parade ground, his family including two sisters - one a teacher and the other pursuing a Master of Arts degree – were in attendance, proud of their ward.

Or Rifleman Ishfaq Ahmad Malik, 21, from Rajouri, who is first in the family to join the army. Son of a farmer, Malik says he is raring to go. ‘‘It is an honour to serve the Indian Army. My family is proud and I am very excited to go and serve in areas which are terrorist-infested.'' His father cannot stop smiling at his son's achievments.

This sentiment was shared by every parent present at the parade ground that day. In a state torn by militant violence and separatist politics, Ummer like other Kashmiri recruits, is prepared to take the risk of being targeted by militants by joining the Indian Army. For those questioning the loyalty of Kashmiris towards India, this is a story worth reading.

The JAK LI regiment that Ummer plans to serve, consists of volunteers from Jammu and Kashmir. It has 50 percent Muslims while the rest represent other ethnic groups from the state.The army has taken thoughtful steps to create and carry with them the rank and file of the regiment; among their most remarkable steps to accommodate all is a common ground of worship, a time-honoured tradition of the Indian Army.

The regiment is by no means new. It came into being between April and August, 1948, trying times for the state when it faced the prospect of plunder, loot and annexation at the hands of tribal marauders who walked across the Line of Control (LoC) sponsored by the Pakistan army. While the shadow of cessation and independence is not entirely removed, JAK LI remains a testimony of how much the people of Jammu and Kashmir are willing to keep violence out of their lives.

Former Colonel of the regiment Lieutenant General ML Chibber likens the JAK LI regiment to the state’s fabulous Chinar trees, which have majestically withstood one storm after the other without any apparent signs of wear and tear. JAK LI’s historical defence of the state with its overwhelming majority of Muslim troops is rightfully the new symbol of Kashmiriyat – away from the shenanigans of vote bank politicians and cynical naysayers.

The birth of JAK LI is entwined with India’s historic freedom struggle.It is the only regiment in the Indian Army which can take legitimate pride in the fact that it emerged out of volunteer citizens who spontaneously rose as a cohesive group to resist the tribal invasion launched by Pakistan to capture Jammu and Kashmir on October 22, 1947. These sons-of-the-soils organized themselves and were called Leh Militia in Leh, Border Defence Scouts and Bal Sena in Jammu, Poonch Scouts in Poonch and National Home Guards in the Kashmir valley.

Then they had fought shoulder to shoulder with the Indian Army, their motivation fired by a burning desire to not just save their family and friends but also the land widely acknowledged to be the ‘Paradise on Earth.’ They not only succeeded in warding off invaders but put into place a hoary tradition – the practice of standing up and being counted when the country needed it.

The militias conducted themselves with great distinction during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 and earned three battle honours during the Bangladesh conflict of 1971. But these successes, far from lulling them into complacency, spurred them on to greater heights – quite literally.

In 1984, JAK LI was deployed to the Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battle ground, to thwart Pakistan’s designs there. Christened Operation Meghdoot, the 8th battalion of JAK LI earned plaudits by capturing a Pakistani post at 21,000 feet on the Siachen Glacier in 1987.

Celebrated Naib Subedar Bana Singh of the regiment earned the country’s highest military honour, Param Vir Chakra, and that too in fine fettle! Steeped in true warrior tradition, Singh believes a regiment is like a nursery which turns boys into men inculcating the basics of battle. Bana Singh became a Subedar Major and was later conferred with honorary rank of Captain. Says the legendary warrior,“ Jammu and Kashmir has been continuously under enemy attack. The immediate reaction to crisis without losing one’s balance is in our genes.’’ He adds: ‘‘You talk of any state and there are malcontents there. But here every jawan is proud of his tradition and the army's honour.''

Subedar Major and Honorary Captain Mohammed Ashraf Bhat, who belongs to Tral in Abantipur district, concurs with Bana Singh and attributes the boys’ success in battlefronts to their natural strength, coming as they do from the mountains. ‘‘Since the boys belong to rugged mountainous terrain, fitness is never an issue. It provides them the edge in action. Also, our boys know the people from the other side (across the border) and they can easily read their body language. Their analysis comes in very handy during operations,’’ he says. Naturally, when it comes to regimental honour, the troops tend to surpass themselves.

Mountains are not JAK LI’s only forte. In 1987 they went to Sri Lanka as part of Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF)’s Operation Pawan and performed with distinction in the prevailing political circumstances. Its successes during the Kargil War where it earned distinguished awards for gallantry, was epitomized in 1999 with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) making a special instant award of "Unit Citation" to the 12th Battalion of the Regiment for their exceptionally gallant and sterling performance in the Batalik Sector.

Their exploits in Kargil saw them win additional honours, the rise of another regiment carved out of the troops which fought the enemy as militia. Ladakh Regiment was carved out of eight companies taken from 7th Battalion which is now the 1st Ladakh Scouts and 14th Battalion became the second battalion of Ladakh Scouts.

Ladakh Scouts was raised on June 1, 1963, following the 1962 Indo-China war. Troops of Ladakh Regiment have also been at the forefront of various battles since 1965. During Operation Vijay at Kargil, Major Sonam Wangchuk, received the Maha Vir Chakra for Ladakh Scouts, displaying exemplary bravery in the face of non-stop enemy fire. The Ladakh Scouts was given the status of a full infantry regiment in 2000 and more battalions are planned to be raised.

Political grandstanding apart, soldiers from Jammu and Kashmir have served the country with utmost dedication and devotion. Despite bloody threats from anti-nationals and the media hype about the alienation and anti-India sentiments in the valley, residents of Kashmir enrolling in the army, have taken everything in their stride. Till date 90 courses of recruits have taken oath and served India with distinction.

The one-year-long recruitment is based on rigorous instructions that transform young civilians (and potential militants) into a competent soldier,one dedicated to the country’s defence, imbibing the values of honesty, camaraderie and discipline. He learns to live committed to the motto of their regiment, Balidanam vir Lakshanam, which means making supreme sacrifice is a warrior's character.

Police officials say many recruits and their families have faced threats from terrorists but the vast numbers of young men who turn up at the army’s recruitment rallies are ample indication – if any indication was needed – that the integration of the state into the Indian union is complete.

According to army officials, even during the most difficult phase of militancy back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the regiment saw volunteers joining its ranks in thousands – a practice that continues till date. For every single vacancy, there are nearly 150 aspirants. Families send their children from districts like Baramulla, Anantnag, Sopore, Kupwara, Srinagar and Bandipora, all of them under the grip of militants and have seen widespread violence against security forces during the most recent summer unrest.

Since 2003, the Indian Army has held regular recruitment drives at Nowgam and Anantnag in South Kashmir, Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara, Chowkibal and Tangdar in North Kashmir. ‘‘We see this as a major achievement in weaning local youths away from the influence of terrorists,’’ says Lt Gen Chibber.

Political disturbances organized at the behest of anti-nationals and pro-Pakistani elements have cost the state very heavy. Not only has it taken away livelihoods, it has also killed employment avenues, taking impressionable young men on the path of violence and anti-national activities.

According to a Planning Commission note, ‘‘as a state with unique features and a strategic location, the speedy development of Jammu and Kashmir needs an integrated approach.” But to implement plans and execute them, peace is the primary pre-condition.

In Kashmir, the existence of shrines, monasteries and temples attract enough revenues to keep the state’s economy in good stead – provided outsiders continue to throng its beautiful valleys and snow capped mountains. Tourism has enough backward and forward linkages. Young men committed to serve the same land threatened by a few disgruntled elements who connive with the anti-national elements, is a story which goes unacknowledged. The army with its training and tradition has done yeoman service by weaving the boys into cohesive bunch of fighters.

Says dyed-in-the-wool JAK LI Regiment officer Lieutenant Colonel Humayun Mirza, ‘‘This regiment is full of paradoxes.You see heterogeneity but it becomes homogeneity and then you witness an entity,regardless of influences and helps serving as a cohesive unit.” He should know the essence of this Kashmiriyat.

Mayank Singh | Photos: Sujan Singh

The other side of the Dragon - Mayank Singh

2013-06-10T01:00:00.000+05:30

In historic archival documents, two researchers have found evidence of strong Sino-Indian cooperation in the fight against colonialism in the early decades of the 20th century, reports Mayank Singh

Most contemporary research on China and India is focused on the 1962 conflict and its aftermath, or on the strategic and foreign policy issues in Sino-Indian relations. Few are aware of the substantial late 19th and early 20th century interactions between the two nations.

Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh and later Subhash Chandra Bose had the support of the Chinese government during the 1930s and early 1940s. This support was not just moral in nature. There was a full-fledged armed training institute for Indians in Shanghai.It was from the early decades of the 29th century, individual Indians began to travel to China, and some Indian groups and associations like the Hindustani Ghadar Party, the Indian National Congress and the Indian National Army established their presence there.

This phase of India-China exchanges was waiting to be unravelled in the National Archives of India (NAI). The exercise was undertaken by Dr. Madhavi Thampi and Nirmola Sharma, a PhD scholar at JNU. They both appreciate the hard work of National Archives of India in keeping the documents well preserved. There is a treasure trove of rare letters, diaries, news clippings, photographs and other materials related to China among the collected papers of individuals and organizations.

Dr Thampi and Ms Sharma have worked with the help of the Institute of Chinese Studies. The documents listed by them are part of the papers of the INA and of its political wing, the Indian Independence League, the Raja ahendra Pratap papers, the Subhash Chandra Bose papers and the papers of K.M. Panikkar, India’s ambassador to China from 1948 to 1952.

The unique items available at NAI include several letters, documents, newspaper clippings and magazines. There is one reply sent by the 13th Dalai Lama to the exiled Indian nationalist Raja Mahendra Pratap who wanted to visit Tibet with other Indian activists in 1926. Permission was denied because of the fear that it would be known to the British.

There also is a report of Netaji’s address to the Chinese during his visit to Nanking under Japanese auspices in 1943. In it, Bose declares that “the Indian people really sympathise with China and the Chinese people” and reminds the Chinese audience that it was he who, when he had been President of the Indian National Congress, was responsible for organizing the Indian Medical Mission to be sent to China “as a token of sympathy for the Chinese people and the Chungking Government.” There are photographs which reveal a totally different side of India-China relations.

Photographs speak louder than words. In the collection of papers of the INA and the Indian Independence League are registration certificates with photographs of hundreds of Indians who joined the latter organisation in China.

Dr. Thampi (Associate Professor in Delhi University) brings out hidden aspects. “Usually when we hear of INA we think of Japan and Singapore but here it clearly shows that INA had its training centre at Shanghai,” she says.

She adds, “I take a long-term view of things between India and China. Without characterizing things as positive or negative I can say that the India-China relationship is very long, enduring and multi-dimensional. This relationship is not going to go away and there is more than just diplomacy as students are travelling to and from and trade has been growing in leaps and bounds.”

Nirmola Sharma is doing her PhD from JNU and was associated with this project. She considers geopolitics as one of the primary reasons for the way things are today. She talks with palpable excitement about the extent of the Indian Independence League’s presence in China.

“There are files which clearly show the list of 2000 who applied to become members of the IIL. This list reveals precise details of the following that the IIL had among the Indians in Shanghai.”

She specifically talks about a Sikh Chinese. “This IIL member’s face is typically Chinese. He had a Sikh father and a Chinese mother and the address mentioned in the membership application is of Ludhiana,” she reveals.

The batch of documents clearly gives the address of the IIL office as 157, Peking Road, Shanghai. The headquarters were based at 330E Paoshing Road, Shanghai. It was from the latter address that IIL’s magazine Chalo Delhi was published. There are death certificates of the IIL members issued by the Shanghai Municipal Council, PHD, Vital Statistics Office. Interesting and equally important is a file from 1949 which has “Memoirs and INA activities in Shanghai, China” by Major B. Narayan, ex INA member, which is typed in English. This document refutes the claim that INA worked under the command of the Japanese. It even includes a clarification on the death of Subhash Chandra Bose.

The revelation is about the extensive activities undertaken by Raja Mahendra Pratap (RMP) and the amount of international attention he was drawing even when he was exiled and living in Japan, Afghanistan and China. There are letters that he got from George Bernard Shaw (1933), Robert Long, Premier, New South Wales (1932), and Krishna Menon (1936). RMP wrote in World Federation magazine in 1932 and criticized the discrimination against Chinese by Westerners, and urged that the people of India and China should “present a united front against all kinds of social, political and religious injustice.”

In the numerous files on INA, its activities are very well detailed. One of the interesting files dated 12 November, 1945. Report No. 4 is described as: “This file contains a detailed report on the IIL/INA structure and organisation in Shanghai based on the interrogation of Capt. B. Narayan (B1211)”. It is a very important report as it throws light on the functioning of IIL/INA not only in Shanghai but also in other parts of China.

Among the papers on Subhash Chandra Bose, one that is of immense interest is Serial No 3.7. November 1, 1943 with Page Nos: 57-58 which is titled “Recognition by the Wang Jingwei government and the government of Manchukuo of the Provisional Government of Free India headed by Subhash Chandra Bose.”

There is also collection of radio messages sent to India from Shanghai. These were radioed to India through courtesy of the China Broadcasting Corporation.

What Dr. Thampi and Ms Sharma have come across during their research is clearly a far cry from the current scenario in which India and China are trapped in an adversarial relationship. As the heat and dust refuses to settle down, the two researchers believe that the two countries might do well to look back and seek inspiration for peace and cooperation.

The Armies of South Asia

2013-03-18T03:00:00.000+05:30

Edited by Vishal Chandra
Publication: Pentagon Press
Edition: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-81-8274-706-7
Pages: 162
Price: Rs.795/-

The economic surge in Asia has been discussed for long. But, there also has always been another aspect attached to South Asian matters. The effect of insurgency and terrorism has not let the economic growth to pan out across the spectrum in the region. Sri Lanka could come out of the civil war after a protracted conflict, Pakistan is yet facing the violent results of its nurturing of religious terrorists, and Afghanistan is mired in a state of total collapse with the international community scrambling to extend support to run the country.

Simultaneously, the other countries are affected similarly. Nepal is struggling to keep the democratic government running with the Chief Justice agreeing to run the ‘election government’. Bangladesh has often been witness to political violence, which has been a major challenge to the socio-political stability of the country. Maldives is in the grip of the politics of vendetta.

The countries in the region are in different stages of the national evolution and so are their key governing institutions. The armies of the countries mentioned above have been playing an active role in these conditions. Although a glance of the Title might let a reader believe that this would be another attempt to pitch the arms and systems and show the graphic representation of India being the strongest. But, nothing can be as wrong as this.

It requires mentioning that once a reader begins, he/she will find the title suitable. This book is an attempt to give the readers a fair idea of the genesis of a strong tool, Army, in the seven countries it has covered. The chapters are country wise and each chapter begins with the security environment of the country. The chapters on each country has information about the security environment and the geopolitical and strategic significance. It moves ahead with the geographical terrain and the respective country’s threat perceptions.

With issues related to security coming to the fore in recent times, the Armies are often in the news. This might generate a lot of questions like will the army take over, will there be a rise in the radical elements within the forces? Here, in the book, one can find issues like structure, civil-military relationship, their recruitment, training, weapon sources and also the future prospects.

In encompassing so much, it demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the country. By reading the chapters one can surmise quite clearly that they have all the important information. The highlight is that country experts, people who have been monitoring developments in the specific countries, have been brought together for this highly informative volume.

Another good point is that this book has not served as another addition the attempts to overlook the negative perceptions about India and its role, which comes out at times. The introduction serves the purpose of placing everything in perspective and is mentioned under the heading ‘India Challenge’. It reads, “The negative perception of India in most of the neighbouring countries, despite India’s sustained confidence-building measures and several unilateral economic and political initiatives, seems near constant.” The above lines from the book on the one side arouse the reader’s interest and sets the stage for an objective assessment of the role of the Army of the respective countries and also to get an understanding of the perception which rests in the minds of the people across these nations.

Every chapter has its own interesting articulation. As in the chapter on Bangladesh, the writer mentions, “Not only does it (Bangladesh) carry the historical baggage of an inherited strategic culture of Pakistan that has been traditionally anti-India, but also the perception of repatriated soldiers and officers who later formed the bulk of the Bangladesh Army.” While, on the one side it is talking about the composition which formed the officers and men of the Bangladesh Army, it also makes a person understand that one needs to approach such issues with sensitivity.

Every chapter has information about the force organisation, which is interesting. The chapter on Pakistan mentions, “In 2006, the government (Pakistan) set up separate commands in its three services equipped with nuclear weapons and missiles capable of retaliating for any first nuclear strike.”

In the security establishment, country-specific briefings are held to apprise the officials and concerned people about such aspects. But it is of prime importance that students, young officers of these establishments should read this and improve upon it to build an objective perception and opinion. The book is based on a sound foundation and serves the purpose well for the readers who get to understand the Armies in the neighbourhood. It also concludes that India has a tough task on its hands, which requires deft and refined handling. My call? Go buy!

From boys to men

2012-12-10T08:30:00.000+05:30

The Garhwal Regiment, raised in 1887, is 125 years old. Mayank Singh records his impressions as he watches a new batch of 150 recruits take oath to further the glorious tradition of valour of the regiment headquartered in the cantonment town of lansdowne

For 19-year-old Surendra Singh, this day is very special. The Garhwal Regiment recruit is one of 150 boys who are all set to join military duty. Not only that, he is, sword in hand, also leading the contingent of young soldiers as it marches to the rhythm of rousing martial music.

“It is a big day of my life,” says the lad, attired in a crisp olive green uniform and sporting a cap smartly tilted at an angle. “I wanted to serve my country and that dream is coming true on a day which marks the 125th anniversary of my regiment.”

Yes, Garhwal Regiment, headquartered in the quaint hill town of Lansdowne, has completed 125 years of service to the nation. Surendra is clearly enjoying being the cynosure of all eyes as an impressed crowd watches the marching boys in rapt attention.

Dahine dekh (eyes right), he shouts. All eyes instantly turn to the contingent. For these boys, this day will be forever etched in memory especially because it also happens to be the quasquicentennial of the regiment that they have now officially become a part of. They have taken oath to lay down their lives for the regiment and the nation, if the need arises.

Incidentally, the nation is also paying homage to the martyrs of the 1962 war with China. The bravery of Rifleman Jaswant Singh, who was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, is still on the minds of the people. He belonged to the Garhwal Regiment.

An area on the way to Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh is called Jaswant Nagar, where a temple dedicated to the memory of the fallen Indian soldier still stands and receives obeisance from every army man who passes this way.

The history of the Garhwal Regiment, manned primarily by boys born and raised in the tough hilly terrain of Uttarakhand, is replete with tales of courage and endurance. One can see the innate toughness and confidence in the eyes and general demeanour of the boys that Surendra is leading today.

They have a glorious tradition to safeguard. The Garhwal Rifles Regiment has the distinction of participating in every war post-independence. And on every occasion that its soldiers have marched into battle, the regiment has made an impact.

Recruit Kuldeep Singh attributes his transformation from a simple village boy to a battle-ready infantryman to the rigorous training that every rookie receives at the Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre perched on the beautiful and green hills of Lansdowne.

“I know that my job will be demanding and difficult but the training that I have received here has instilled the confidence that I can accomplish any task that I am given,” says Kuldeep. His self-assurance stems from the 34 gruelling weeks that he has spent at the centre, preparing himself for the challenges that lie ahead.

The Garhwal Rifles Regimental Centre was established in the year 1887 to train boys from the hill areas of Garhwal region and raise a regiment. Boys from the area would earlier join the Gorkha Rifles or enrol in the Bengal and Punjab Regiments. The first unit of the regiment was raised on May 5, 1887 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel E. P. Meinwaring. Today it is a formidable regiment of 23 units.

In the First World War, the regiment lost 721 men. In World War II, 349 of its soldiers were martyred. Till date, the regiment has been bestowed with 30 battle honours, with five of them coming after India achieved independence.

While the 1962 India-China war is full of stories of valour displayed by the Garhwal Regiment troops, it went on to play a crucial role in the Kargil conflict. The most prominent of its triumphs was at Tiger Hill.

The regiment also has a special counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism capsule manned by soldiers especially trained for demanding field conditions in strife-torn parts of Kashmir and the Northeast.

Says Lieutenant General Syed Atta Hassnain: “Every soldier of this regiment is always ready to prove his mettle at every given opportunity. There is a need, however, to make every Indian aware of their sacrifice…”

Even before General Hassnain can complete his sentence, the war cry of the regiment, Jai Bhadravishal (Hail Bhadravishal), rents the air. It is a cry that charges up the soldiers of the regiment on the battlefield.

Three Victoria Crosses, one Ashok Chakra, four Maha Vir Chakras, 14 Kirti Chakras, 52 Vir Chakra and 46 Shaurya Chakra part of the list of medals that the soldiers have earned for this regiment. Behind every great battlefield effort has been this war cry.

The pride of being part of a glorious history has drawn officers and jawans from across the country, both serving and retired, to the 125th year celebrations. All of them spoke in one voice about the contribution that the regimental centre has made over the years to the boys and the nation.

The centre has evolved. Apart from military training, it also has rehabilitation and welfare cell which helps ex-soldiers and dependents of martyrs in the process of rehabilitation. The cell has been arranging the remarriage of war widows, providing them reemployment and houses, funding the education of children and paying pensions to dependent parents.

Mayank Singh

Alone on a wide, wide sea

2012-09-09T15:48:00.000+05:30

Lieutenant Commander (Lt Cdr) Abhilash Tomy is ready to make history. This naval pilot is going to attempt circumnavigating the globe on a 56-feet long boat, Alone and non-stop, becoming the first Indian and only the eighteenth ever to do so. In this journey of 22,000 nautical miles (40000 kms), he intends to drop anchor not even once…

The number of people who have been to space is approximately 400 and around 5000 have stood on Mt Everest, but till date, only 181 people have circumnavigated the earth of who less than 80 have done it non-stop. Lieutenant Commander Abhilash Tomy is to set about one such extraordinary trip, one even more exclusive as he is an amateur with only 17 accomplished amateurs having tried anything similar before him. Abhilash was lucky to have cut his teeth on sailing with the only Indian solo circumnavigator, Commander Dilip Donde whilst part of the preparation team of Sagar Parikrama. This will be Sagar Parikrama 2, scheduled for November 1 and to finish sometime in April.

Commander Donde had circumnavigated the Earth in 2009 in 157 days, but he allowed himself the liberty of anchoring at harbours to repair the boat, stock food and meet people. Tomy’s will be a lonelier battle wherein activities including but not limited to cooking, adjusting sails, repairing the boat would be his responsibility alone. Yes, Tomy is dreaming to pit himself against the behemoth oceans solely on the power of his giant spirit, and a little help from some state-of-the art equipment (See Box).

The rules of circumnavigation state that the start and finish should be the same point and the sailor cannot pass through a canal or a strait. All meridians need to be crossed at least once and the Equator crossed twice. Tomy’s journey will be in the Southern seas where he hopes to leverage the trade wind to cruise, but faces the risk of running into the Roaring Forties (strong westerly winds of the Southern Hemisphere). Dilip Donde knows this to be a gigantic challenge, but believes Tomy’s success would make every countryman proud. “It is far more difficult than climbing Mt Everest. Every Everester is a hero in his own right, but usually there’s a team or support system. In this case, there’s going to be nothing like that.”

Speaking to TSI, Tomy shared his braveheart perspective. He explained, “Ideally, one would be anxious on such an expedition, but I’m going to enjoy it. It is entirely voluntary; it’s something I got attracted to. I think unless you are cut off from routine, you don’t realise what you are missing.”

Tomy’s boat, Mhadei, named after the river in Goa is 56-feet long and costs Rs 4.25 crores. Based on a Dutch design, the Dutch consultants had predicted it to never succeed, but it proved the naysayers wrong and went on to successfully circumnavigate the world in its maiden voyage. It has already charted a whopping 57,000 miles at sea and is now getting ready to surpass its enviable record. In this journey, Mhadei will pass through some of the most treacherous conditions, battling winds up to 300 kms per hour, temperatures down to five degrees below zero and waves as high as nine metres. Food for the speculated 200 days of journey would be provided by defence labs and sea food would be brought in from New Zealand. The boat also has provisions for carrying 200 bottles of one litre portable water along with an RO, which is fitted in. But over and above these preparations, Abhilash’s mental and physical endurance will be of prime importance.

Commander Donde, recounting his own experience, said, “At night you cannot even see the water under your boat. You are so preoccupied mentally that the slightest noise or change in the angle of boat will wake you, even in auto-pilot. I could never sleep for more than an hour at a stretch.” Tomy agreed, “You can get exhausted to the level of hallucination!” But he looks forward to sailing; he even tested the boat and equipment by cruising non-stop from Brazil to Cape Town and back to Mumbai, covering 9000 kms.

As described in Moby Dick, ‘there is one knows not what sweet mystery about (the) sea, whose gently awful stirrings seems to speak of some hidden soul beneath’. Let’s hope by the end of this journey, it may have revealed just a bit to Abhilash Tomy… Bon voyage!

Mayank Singh |

A build-up for the future

2012-03-26T03:30:00.000+05:30

William H. Avery

Amaryllis
Edition: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-93-81506-07-3
Pages: 244
Price: Rs.595/-

Of late, many writers have delved into the strained Sino-Indian relations. The discourse has mostly dealt with the possible scenarios where the competition between the two developing nations boil over to a point that it leads to bitter and open rivalry. Some even went on to predict future wars, making onewonder if these prognostications of an India-China face-off were grounded in reality or it was a Western ploy to get the neighbours fighting and further their (Western nations’) own ends in the ensuing arms race.

At first sight, William H Avery’s book seems to pick up this oft repeated thread and the first few chapters seem to insinuate the same. However, with successive pages the book explores the various elements of the country and how these factors may come together in making India not only China’s rival but a strong international power

in the league of the United States and United Kingdom. Instead of the usual war warmongering, the book delves into the Indian demography, economy, outsourcing, education and innovation with research and development to give a vivid picture of the country’s development. A rather interesting analysis goes like this: “Two centuries ago, the United Kingdom used Indian cotton as raw material to run its textile mills and strengthen its industrial base. Today, the Unites States uses Indian IT services to run its software products and strengthen its technology base. The effect is the same: a colonial style enrichment of other nations, at India’s expense.”

While talking of the “mind race” (or rather ‘mind the race’) and “arms race” it has documented that “in 2008, China-based scholars published over 112,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals, nearly three times the number India produced and second only to the United States”. For any country to take a lead, a flourishing indigenous technology and strong base of research and development is required. Although India has its own of share of research papers getting reviewed and being cited, the need of the hour is to pump in funds and support it with policies which attract the best brains from across the world. The lack of Indian share in sophisticated technologies is casting its shadow on the defence sector. Consequently, India ends up spending a major chunk of its financial resources on importing arms.

In a recent ranking of Asian Universities, eleven Chinese and Hong Kong universities made it to the top thirty. India’s top entry, IIT Kanpur, was ranked 36, that is, it’s nowhere in the top 10 or even top 20! Taking it further, there is scarcity of personnel in the armed forces and foreign services. This at a time when India is trying to assert itself as a power to reckon with on the world stage.

The book raises the frequently discussed point that India lacks a ‘strategic vision’ and this lacking becomes more conspicuous at this critical juncture where India is claiming her place in the world order and is actually rising in stature. The issues which are acting as a drag can vary from pure lack of vision to the failure of the opposition to come up with constructive criticism. In the absence of any solid political issue, the opposition sometimes tend to politicise issues which have direct or indirect impact on national security in the long run.

The book exhorts India to unshackle itself from its “soft state” image and take a more pro-active approach in handling issues. The author concludes that the Indo-American friendship will not only be a determining factor in the development of India as a nation but also in the political climate of the world at large in the years to come. Avery does not mince his words when he says, “When the history of this century is written, it can be the triumph of freedom, liberal values, pluralism and democracy; or it can be the return of the tyrants. The United States will fight for freedom again, but by itself it cannot be certain of prevailing. It needs India to join the fight, and join it with raw power enhanced by moral authority.”

The book has been written after a lot of research and analysis. The writer cites a US report prepared after the second world war which served as the fountain head of innovation and technology. This technical acumen enabled the United States to become a world leader in many fields. It goes like this: “Using a 1945 report commissioned by the administration of President Harry Truman (1884-1972), the United Sates developed a system of research funding that has helped it achieve and maintain its global leadership in innovation.”

With its fresh approach and interesting analyses, the book is quite a good read. It is refreshing to see a Western author finally talking of India “moving from back office to the front”.

Overseas Talk "India is the single-most important defence partner for US"

2012-03-15T16:48:00.000+05:30

William H. Avery, who served in the US diplomatic service as an Economic Officer, is a master at trade development and commercial advocacy, and is a three-time recipient of the US State Department's Meritorious Honour Award. A prolific writer on international affairs, Avery tells Mayank Singh how India needs to start thinking beyond just Pakistan and China and take interest in building a strong military base in the Asian region. India has the potential, he says!

B&E: Asia is constantly represented on the international fora and its position is factored-in by different countries in their policy making. Your assessment?
William H. Avery (WAH): All the action is in this part of the World. We are seeing a shift of economic activity, which will be followed by military activity and military strength from the trans-Atlantic to the Pacific region, including China and India and all the regions that fall in-between. With regard to the subcontinent, principally, India and China are the places that are going to be significant. US also because it is a continent with 300 million people. So I think a new structure is emerging where there are three potential centres of power – US, India and China.

B&E: You have been talking of India becoming a superpower. Yet, you say that it will have to ‘achieve’ this position. What shortcomings on India’s part do you observe here?

WAH: I think India has many natural advantages. It has a demographic advantage. It has skill base, which is not just a technological skill base. What is missing in India is a recognition of how you build power in this World which requires military and economic strength, not just at home but overseas. And it requires a willingness to use power. If you look at India’s experience with Sri Lanka, it is very instructive. I think Rajiv Gandhi knew that for India to get to the next level, it had to be willing to play a strong regional role. But the problem is that when the LTTE assassinated Rajiv, India withdrew. So what you had for the past 20 years was not only India not becoming a global power but also failing to become a regional power! Another element is a kind of obsession with Pakistan. Pakistan, a barely functioning State, is quite clever in a way to bring India down to its level. India fell into that trap. And it was with the advent of the Indo-US Nuclear deal that India began to rise above it and perhaps only because of India’s economic growth was it was able to pull away from Pakistan. So some things are beginning to happen. But India needs to take a more activist approach to becoming a strong military power.

B&E: You have been talking of India becoming a superpower. Yet, you say that it will have to ‘achieve’ this position. What shortcomings on India’s part do you observe here?
WAH: I think India has many natural advantages. It has a demographic advantage. It has skill base, which is not just a technological skill base. What is missing in India is a recognition of how you build power in this World which requires military and economic strength, not just at home but overseas. And it requires a willingness to use power. If you look at India’s experience with Sri Lanka, it is very instructive. I think Rajiv Gandhi knew that for India to get to the next level, it had to be willing to play a strong regional role. But the problem is that when the LTTE assassinated Rajiv, India withdrew. So what you had for the past 20 years was not only India not becoming a global power but also failing to become a regional power! Another element is a kind of obsession with Pakistan. Pakistan, a barely functioning State, is quite clever in a way to bring India down to its level. India fell into that trap. And it was with the advent of the Indo-US Nuclear deal that India began to rise above it and perhaps only because of India’s economic growth was it was able to pull away from Pakistan. So some things are beginning to happen. But India needs to take a more activist approach to becoming a strong military power.

B&E: You have called the withdrawl of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) from Sri Lanka as India's mistake. Also, you say that it should have been redeployed after the unfortunate assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Your thoughts...
WAH: I do feel it was a mistake. I understand why it was made. And it is always easy to go back 20 years and look at it in retrospect, but the fact that a country allowed a former prime minister to be assassinated on its own soil and then nearly asked for the extradition of the assassins is pretty amateurish. And there’s nothing we can do to change that. However, it should serve a lesson. We should look at it critically and make sure that India does not make the same mistake again. I think the IPKF episode was one that pushed back India’s emergence as a global power by many years. However, it should be acknowledged that India did recover by 1998 – the series of nuclear tests was a huge step forward. So where India has been conventional in defence matters or rather meek, its nuclear diplomacy and its nuclear policy have been much stronger.

B&E: Do you see a bigger ploy of China in keeping India busy with Pakistan while increasing its arsenal and technological knowhow and economic opportunities, and then using them as pressure tactics?
WAH: It could be a Chinese strategy. I don’t know whether it is a conscious strategy or not. Having said this, I believe that India should not remain busy with Pakistan because there is a much wider world out there. The cross-border terrorism issue is significant and has to be monitored by India. At the same time however, India’s emergence as a global power will not come true if the Indo-Pak equation remains the key agenda on the diaries of India’s foreign policy agents for ever.

B&E: China is helping India's neighbours build ports. It is providing them support in building infrastructure. Shouldn’t India be more proactive when it comes to building stronger ties with its own neighbours?
WAH: Look at the China-Taiwan relation. Do you think China will let India build a port in Taiwan? China doesn’t even let people recognise Taiwan as a country. Forget them being allowed to have a foothold in Taiwan. So China has a much more aggressive approach when dealing with its neighbours. As far as India is concerned, it should understand that maintaining good strategic relationships with neighbours is important. The case with Sri Lanka is easy because of the trade potential. However, India should look at the good and bad examples of relationships between neighbours – be it Taiwan and China, Canada and America, Cuba and America – learn from them and implement the lessons in its dealings with its own neighbours. Ultimately, there are only two paths to follow as far as India and its neighbouring countries is concerned – one is integration, and the other is estrangement and that will only lead to poverty. Look at the Cubans. Their main strategic partner was half a world away and since Russia fell into trouble, they let the Cubans go.

B&E: You mentioned Russia. Where is Russia in this global dynamics?
WAH: Russia is destined to be a second-tier power in the 21st century. Putin may wish to rebuild an empire but the country's demographics – low birth rates and high mortality rates, especially among males – mean that Russia is in its twilight as a major power. But Russia will always have a strong military and, thanks to its resources, some economic weight as well. And, as it showed in Georgia in 2008, it will not hesitate to flex its muscles in its neighbourhood. India can learn from Russia in this respect. But as an ally, with regard to the US, India and China, the Russians are not likely to be a close friend of any of these. We hope that it doesn’t become an enemy either.

B&E: There have been occasions when US has stopped the supply of arms to countries. Can India rely on US?
WAH: Considering the foreseeable future, India is the single most important defence partner for US. My book 'China's Nightmare, America's Dream: India As The Next Global Power' makes it clear. Therefore this defence partnership is in the interest of both nations. The notion that the US would ever halt arms sales to India is inconceivable. The challenge for India is to develop its own sophisticated defence industry. India has all the ingredients to become a major defence supplier. It has the raw materials, the manufacturing base, and most importantly, the engineering and IT talent. But these pieces will not just come together on their own; the Indian government has to make it happen.

Mayank Singh

50 years of solitude

2011-10-24T01:00:00.000+05:30

'War forced on China'

No account of India-China war is complete without an interview with Neville Maxwell, a British journalist who has also authored a seminal book on the conflict

Are India-China relations still frozen in 1962?

India-China relations have developed intensively in every area since 1962 — except one, the border issue.

Do you think India has not changed its approach towards the boundary issue in the last 50 years?

Every Indian government since Jawaharlal Nehru formulated this policy has sustained his obdurate refusal to submit Indian territorial claims to the internationally accepted procedure of boundary settlement — diplomatic negotiations. (All China's other neighbours have amicably settled their borders in this way.)

Was the India-China war avoidable? What, according to you is the most important event which had cast the die for 1962 war?

The border war of 1962 was not only avoidable, it was forced upon China when the Indian Army was ordered to attack Chinese positions on Thagla Ridge, a commanding feature on the Chinese side of the McMahon Line at its western extremity, and Nehru announced that decision to the world. China's pre-emptive attack was justifiable under the international legal principle of "anticipatory self-defence".

What is your solution to the India-China border problem?

India should accept the long-standing Chinese proposal for opening formal border negotiations, which would involve both sides' accepting that their declared territorial claims are open to compromise. As Nehru himself made clear, "negotiations" are wholly different from the sterile "talks" in which he, and all his successors, have persistently engaged the Chinese government.

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In Tawang's cool breeze, the swaying flame of the lamp at the war memorial remains a mere memory of a terrible skirmish here in September-October 1962, when for the first time in history, the national armies of India and China met and fought. It turned out to be a sordid tale of India's pusillanimity, the inability of its political class to grasp the underpinnings of higher war and the time-tested Indian failing of the leadership not being in touch with ground realities.

For a country long caught up with its preoccupations on the western front, India's eastern border today, at least on paper, presents an idyllic picture of serenity. Half-a-century of peace is enough to lull even the most far sighted. Lama Tsering sits in front of the plaque inside the War Memorial in Tawang which tells visitors that 2,420 Indian brave hearts laid down their lives in the wintry wastes of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) in 1962, now known as Arunachal Pradesh. It is a practice that the Lamas have continued since the desperate days of 1962 when invading Chinese troops had made their appearance at the majestic Tawang Monastery. Since then, they consider this prayer their personal responsibility.

"We cannot forget how Indian soldiers laid down their lives to protect our ancestors,'' says Tsering feelingly. The gate of the war memorial unveils the magnificent and beautiful monastery of Tawang, which lies at the epicentre of the 90,000 square kilometres of Arunachal Pradesh, a territory which China claims as its own.

In the intervening years of peace, a new generation has come up on the route that the Chinese army took to touch the Brahmaputra valley in a month's time, in the process dealing a body blow to Indian prestige and honour. As this reporter drives down the single road that leads up to Bumla on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the Indo-China fence, the names of battle spots spring out of the memory box: Bomdila, Se la and Tawang, places where military memorials poignantly demonstrate how an ill equipped, unacclimatised virtually rag tag Indian Army confronted the much organised, world class and no-frills Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) before going down valiantly in the absence of direction and leadership.

At the Tawang Monastery Museum, its curator Daimoo Lama was one of the many who made good his escape to Guwahati as the Chinese started to close in. Sadly, says Daimoo, the more things have changed, the more they have remained the same. "This area has not changed much since 1962. It remains underdeveloped, it lacks communications and for some reason the Indian state is not willing to develop it on the grounds that it will hinder movements of an advancing Chinese force,'' he says with a shrug, arguments once used by ill-informed South Block mandarins back in the 1950s and early sixties before disaster set in.

There is a difference though. Unlike then, there is no Hindi-Chini bhai bhai. There are little illusions left and for purposes of security, it is not such a bad idea at all. Undoubtedly, 2011 is not 1962. China is today India's largest trading partner pegged in excess of $60 billion and slated to go up to $ 100 billion in the next few years. Country to country, army to army and people to people exchanges between the two countries have gone up. China is the world's largest growing economy while India is rated as the second largest, so in a sense, competition is in built into the equation.

But every now and then, memories of 1962 cloud relations and perhaps mask Chinese intentions. Brig. JP Dalvi in his classic `Himalayan Blunder' recalled (from his POW cell in Tibet) a favourite Chinese statement mouthed several times by its officials since it annexed Tibet in 1950. "On the night of November, 21, 1962, I was woken up by the Chinese Major in charge of my solitary confinement with shouts of `good news-good news.' He told me that the Sino-Indian war was over and the Chinese government had decided to withdraw from all the areas they had over run. When I asked the reason for this decision, he gave me a Peking-inspired answer. `India and China have been friends for thousands of years and have never fought before. China does not want war. It is the reactionary Indian government that wants war....''

Strategically and despite well-stated intentions, the key question is how much have things changed on India's eastern front, in the beautiful and remote Arunachal Pradesh or further up north at the tri-junction in Ladakh?

A 2010 high-level intelligence assessment from 33 Corps, one of the three corps mandated for the defence of the China border, suggest that the high Himalayan passes need to be watched. "The contrast between India and China is stark in terms of military capabilities. India’s weaponry remains subcontinental whereas China’s weaponry is intercontinental. The composite development of road-rail-air infrastructure in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in their alignments and dispositions show a clear bias towards sensitive and disputed areas along the Sino-Indian (international border) IB/ LAC. This has given China a definitive edge over India in speedy mobilisation and sustenance of its forces in the event of a military conflict with India,'' the intelligence assessment points out.

It ominously projects that "in terms of conventional forces, China has achieved force application ratios of 2-3:1 in its favour. India’s military capability for deterring or contesting deep non-contact battle with long range key point strikes and comprehensive national objective (CNO) which are essential elements of China’s war zone campaign (WZC) doctrine, remains woefully below par. The existing and growing military asymmetry decidedly in favour of China places India at a serious disadvantage and open to military coercion.'' For locals, the idea that they are residents of a place which one of the most formidable military powers in the world covets as her own is particularly galling.

Pema Wangchuk, shop owner in the Old Tawang Market, for instance, believes the Indian reaction since 1962 has been less than muscular. He says, "It will not help our country by showing such deference towards the Chinese. I remember their propaganda in the 1960s, which they continue to do even now. They told our people that we look like them, that we are closer to their culture with historical links. But my point is our looks are also similar to people living in Korea, Japan and Vietnam, so how does it matter to us? We are Buddhist and we cannot imagine living under the Chinese."

Or jeans -T shirt-clad Chombay Kee, who represents the young generation of Tawang. He runs an NGO, Yuva, designed to assist the town's youth. Kee told TSI that the army had recently organised a recruitment rally and we helped. "A total of 226 boys from areas close to Tawang took part in this drive.''

Good going. This recruitment drive is part of India's plans to raise battalions of Arunachal Scouts and Sikkim Scouts. "As these are the local boys, they are well acclimatised, tough and know the topography well,'' says a highly-placed army official, on conditions of anonymity.

Says Zorawar Daulet Singh of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, "The assumptions behind the Chinese boundary approach can be challenged. The basis of Beijing's approach has been to assimilate and pacify Tibet, and once such a policy succeeds, hope to bargain from a position of strength on the frontiers of India. Such approach has yielded little so far — neither has China attained an unequivocal level of Tibetian or international legitimacy; nor has it lowered their threat perception on the Indian side.''

China's new status as an economic superpower aligned with its military might has been delicately but aptly called `Walmart with an army'. Notwithstanding claims of friendship and improved ties with India, Beijing has sustained double-digit increase in military spending for two decades. Today China's increasingly sophisticated muscle force is at the heart of its military modernization.

In addition, analysts say Chinese defence budgeting and military spending being an opaque process, assessments of its actual spending vary. Pentagon estimates of 2009 arrive at two conclusions: one, in the last decade there has been an average increase of 14 per cent in China's defence spending. Two, the estimated defence budget for 2009 was double of the 2005 budget. The defence budgetary allocations increased at an average rate of 12.9 per cent whereas GDP grew at an average rate of 9.2 per cent.

They say that the actual defence budget could be about three times higher than the declared budget. It would do to take a look at traditional Chinese strategic thinking. Based on ancient writings, the government has promoted the belief of `Culture of Defence' as being their strategic culture. While warfare and military invasion is not sanctioned in ancient Chinese literature, it grants the ruler to undertake military expeditions to its outer regions. Such military expeditions or defence against attacks by `barbarians' were sanctioned as “just wars”, a term Beijing (then Peking) used in abundance in relation to its 1962 NEFA operations against India.

Hence, say observers, the Chinese “Culture of Defence'' is actually not defensive. Offensives beyond borders too are part of this culture as long as it can be supported by a “just cause”. Needless to say, a just cause is one which has the support of the Chinese government.

India's strategic community has in the last couple of years debated China's `string of pearls' that the Communist giant has been building around India through Pakistan, Myanmar and now Sri Lanka.

Christopher J. Pehrson, author of the book “String of Pearls: Meeting the challenge of China’s rising power across the Asian littoral”, says, "String of Pearls’ describes the manifestation of China’s rising geopolitical influence through efforts to increase access to ports and airfields, develop special diplomatic relationships and modernize military forces that extend from the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the Arabian Gulf.''

In south Asia, China seems to have been working consistently over the last four decades to strengthen its presence and that naturally has India worried. As a first step, most experts are agreed that for better integration of people in what was former NEFA, the Indian government must embark on a road building and infrastructure-developing spree. "Roads will help amalgamate the people with the rest of the country and will earn their goodwill because in their difficult times, it is these roads which help. If you cannot help them in their difficult times there is no point in expecting their loyalty,'' says former director general of military operations (DGMO) Lt Gen VK Singh, a former POW in Chinese captivity in 1962.

However, most of the roads are in bad shape. Out of 61 roads of total 3,429 km roads to be constructed only 12 roads (total length of 518 km) have been completed in the region. The reason for the delay, according to Border Roads Organisation (BRO), is that the government has failed to facilitate lifting of construction material till now.

Notwithstanding the Chinese guns, Tawang and its enormous natural beauty continues to attract tourists annually and there are close to 50 hotels there, including a proposed Five Star hotel. Their only bug bear: the roads continue to be medieval. Says Thutan Lama, secretary of the Old Tawang market who was 12 when the Chinese came, "Tourists love to visit Tawang and the number of hotels are going up every year. The roads, of course, are a sore point,'' evidently both for defence and civilian purposes.

Most sober analysts rule out an all out confrontation between the two Asian giants on the lines of 1962. The economic stakes and global imperatives are too steep a gradient for even China to indulge in another round of adventurism. For India, some lessons of 1962 have been learnt. Behind the smiling handshakes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Hu Jintao, there is the resolve not to shoot from the hip again — `throw out the Chinese from India's sacred soil' kind of statement. These are some of the geographical imperatives that New Delhi has to learn to live with.

Equally, there remains little doubt that Beijing would continue to needle New Delhi on the border question and try to hasten the several rounds of futile talks that have been held to determine the real line of actual control between the two countries. It serves China's economic purpose as well: it keeps India bottled up in south Asia. With Pakistan as a staunch China ally, India will be kept on their toes. The only road to peace, therefore, would be to raise the economic stakes in a way that war becomes a no-option. Could south Asia be turned into another Europe where centuries-old rivals now happily sup together?

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Memories: Durga Bahadur

The smile on the face of 78-year-old Durga Bahadur Basnet is contagious. He hoodwinked death in two devastating wars, 1962 with China and 1965 with Pakistan, but still carries on with the enthusiasm and energy of a young military recruit. His dignity and aura are unmistakably that of a soldier. At his house in Assam's Goalpara, he looks immaculate in his well ironed cream coloured kurta pyjama — and ready to talk.

Born on August 14, 1933, Basnet decided early that he would serve his country — like his three brothers — when the opportunity arose. It came on December 8, 1952, when he joined the Indian Army in artillery and served with the 29 Arty which manned light anti-aircraft guns. Action came with the Chinese in 1962 and it was his unit which gave covering fire to 1/9 Gorkha Rifles in the battle of Tawang. Like most warriors of that border war, those days are etched in his mind. Amidst enemy fire from Chinese heavy artillery, his unit was unable to carry their own heavy artillery guns. Instead of baulking, they took up the fight with their light artillery guns.

"We had no tracks, we tried to take the Sikkim route but as it was a different country then, it did not allow us. The worst came when Chinese heavy guns started raining explosives on us. We were not even given proper orders to fire back," Basnet remembers.

He continues: "We were sitting close to our dug up area when suddenly artillery shells started falling from every direction. We started running to our bunkers. We were told to fire our light artillery guns as our units were kept constantly engaged by the Chinese soldiers who were attacking in waves," he added.

Basnet, his eyes misty and mind wavering to that fateful day, still rues the decision to withdraw from battle. "We were not weak and would have fought had we been not ordered to fall back." Like most Indian warriors of the ill-fated NEFA campaign, he cannot help but make comparisons with the enemy — in the process he holds a mirror to decision makers and military planners who botched the campaign. "We were fighting with Second World War weapons while the Chinese had automatic rifles. Our routes were precarious for they were mired with landslides, road blocks and thick forests,'' Basnet recalls.

When he retired from service on December 18, 1970, he started a dhaba which served free meals to Indian soldiers who fought against the Pakistan Army in then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

For Basnet, nation comes first. He has not left army discipline and gets up at 4 every morning and goes for his 6- kilometre walk. "Serving the nation is an opportunity which I will never let go," he announces. Even against the Chinese, should that occasion arise? No question about it, he says the professional soldier in him rising to the occasion.

Mayank Singh | Photos: Ranjan Basu

Rookies earning their wings

2011-10-02T07:30:00.000+05:30

October 8 is celebrated as air force day by the indian air force. we therefore, thought it fit to give you a glimpse of an average day of some very extraordinary people, fighter pilots. Mayank Singh spent some time with pilots of a sukhoi squadron. here’s his report.

‘HJ’, as he is known to his colleagues, looks like any other young man his age. But see him in his green overalls, and it is a different story. HJ is a fighter pilot in the making; which is to say he isn’t operational yet. But it’s only a matter of time.

Being trained to fly the Indian Air Force’s most advanced deep penetration strike aircraft, the Sukhoi 30 MKI, HJ is focussed and intense when in gear. “We train for our life and with it is associated others’ life as well and our nation’s security,” he thunders. It is that thought which makes him put in “200 per cent on the ground, so as to give 100 per cent in the air”.

HJ’s journey to becoming a fighter pilot began early. “When I was in class six, I learnt about fighter pilots and from then, I was determined to be one,” he shares. We were soon joined by HJ’s colleague, Flight Lieutenant Umang Nautiyal, who like HJ was as dedicated and focussed. Both had to be. They had just undergone the Aircrew Examination Board, an annual exam for fighter pilots which rates them and validates their skills.

But this in no way meant a reprieve from flying. After all, they had a training schedule to meet. Ready in their flight suits, both soon took-off in the Sukhoi 30 MKI to practice “Dog-fighting”; an accepted term for direct air to air combat.

Flying the Sukhois comes with it’s own share of pride...and effort. The Sukhoi demands perfection and so do the instructors. Officers like HJ and Umang have their priorities very clear, for flying demands focus and devotion. A detailed training plan exists and has been fine tuned to turn every pilot into a force to reckon with. A normal day for HJ and Umang begins at 5:30 am when they get up to report to their station before 7 am. Here, they receive meteorological, weather, runway and related briefings. Soon after, the Unit Briefing is held in the briefing room where the day’s flying plan and other tasks are explained and divided. Once out of the briefing, the junior pilots get into discussion with the senior pilots who are there to supervise them in their mission.

This is followed by the mandatory pre-flight meal. After the meal they leave for the aircraft which is kept flight worthy by able technicians. But before they are given complete control of the aircraft, pilots such as HJ have to pass their technical course, which tests their awareness about the aircraft.

Following this, they are cleared to sit as a rear cockpit pilot under the supervisor in the front cockpit who holds charge of the entire sortie. Gradually, under the watchful eyes of the senior pilots, the pilot is given a chance to fly in the front cockpit and then he qualifies to become a mission leader where he captains the ‘Ship’ as they lovingly call it.

At the end of their flying day, HJ and Umang both enjoy a game of squash. They never forget to party every Saturday and Sunday and never compromise on eight hours of sleep. Simple! But both know they are there to earn their wings and in the process protect the nation. They’ll both be back the next day to do the same thing, again and analyse their every move and mistake. As HJ said in parting, “There are no born fighter pilots. We sweat and earn our wings.”

The Making Of The Scholar Warrior

2011-07-29T06:30:00.000+05:30

It has produced some of India’s best known heroes, And continues to maintain the same high standards it set when it first opened. Mayank Singh spends a day at the IMA, Dehradun to get to grips with how boys transform into men entrusted with protecting the nation’s sovereignty.

The red and white facade of a timeless colonial building with long corridors greets me as I enter through the main gate. This is Chetwode Building; the heart of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun and it sits in the midst of green salubrious surroundings.

But a sudden shout of “Saavdhan Chal” from behind me, pierces the moment and I am passed by a group of young boys on cycles wearing colourful t-shirts. I say boys. The IMA calls them GCs or Gentlemen Cadets. Why? Because an officer or an officer in the making, is a gentleman, always.

Three GCs stand out. GC Shiladitya Singh Ranawat, GC Abhishek Chandra and GC Abhay Sharma. With their uniform crew cuts and similar t-shirts, they look the same. But their backgrounds and their place here at the academy couldn’t be more different.

GC Ranawat joined the academy just five days back. GC Chandra is a third termer (terms, as in semesters in university parlance) and is the Academy Cadet Adjutant (ACA); the senior most cadet of the academy. GC Sharma is also a third termer.

The task of the academy is to train the “Scholar Warrior”. And it does this from a crop of young men selected from around the country; making this one of the most varied 1,800 young men in any training institute in India.

Take GC Ranawat for instance. He completed Sociology Honours from Hindu College, Delhi and then decided to join the army. GC Sharma left his well-paying job as a marine engineer after sailing around the world for two years. He has a B.Tech degree in Marine Technology from BITS, Ranchi. What’s common to this varied bunch? All of them believe that the Army is a way of life; one which goes far beyond money and material gains.

And the IMA is an essential stepping stone to it. Just five days in, and GC Ranawat from Udaipur is already feeling the difference. “Right from the day I have reached here, I have been in a spin with every moment throwing its own novelties at me. I landed and the first thing that I ‘donned’, was the army crew cut. I am learning table manners and etiquette as well,” he says. Life is hard, but necessarily so. Cadets wake up at 4 am and lights are switched off by 10 pm, without fail or you have a punishment coming your way. Cadets are often out for days together in jungles, learning the nuances of explosives, ground tactics, men and leadership. Every term has a very scientifically planned training routine.

Intrinsic to the whole system are the “Drill Ustaads”; soldiers who double up as instructors for various disciplines ranging from marching to weapons to physical training. And they know what it takes to make a fine officer too.

As GC Sharma realises soon enough in the drill square. ‘Ek do teen, ek’ comes the shout from Havaldar Lokendra Singh. One of the most feared men in the academy, he belongs to that nervously admired creed of ‘Drill Ustaads’. Abhay stamps his leg and tries to hold his rifle in the correct position. Havaldar Singh spots the mistake and shouts tersely, ‘theek se’. GC Sharma spends the next 40 minutes doing the drill over and over and over again. Sweat soaking his unifom, but a smile on his face. He knows he deserves the punishment.

It is July and the rain makes things worse. But the academy never stops. The period of ground tactics is on in the outdoor exercise area with intermittent sounds of live bullets and explosives. Next is the period of Psychological warfare and GCs rush to their classes, on cycles, wearing raincoats.

But why go through all this? For what? Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor Major General TS Gill explains, “We have the responsibility to take men into death and this we cannot do by force. It can only be done when we motivate them.” He knows what he is talking about. Over 50 years old, he still jumps out from airplanes 30,000 feet in the sky.

It’s not just the motivation that the academy provides. “Hailing from diverse backgrounds, they (the cadets) are anchored into a common bond of camaraderie, esprit-de-corps and team spirit. We train boys to be leaders of tomorrow and you can see this on the ground. Be it in Jammu and Kashmir, the North-east or any other area, it is the officers who lead their men,” says Col R Sachdeva.

And we can be sure GCs Ranawat and Sharma will uphold that tradition in their years of service beyond the IMA.

Sleepless in Siachen

2008-11-17T08:30:00.000+05:30

Altitude: 15,000 feet. Place: Siachen Glacier. Here, the bitterest enemy is not the Pakistani soldier standing armed to his teeth across the border. For both Pakistani and Indian soldiers, the bitterest enemy at Siachen is Siachen itself. Altitude 15,000 is Camp 3, and above that is Connaught Place! Camp 4, 16,000 feet. At Camp 3, the night temperature is minus 25 degrees Celsius. Connaught Place is much colder, and I cannot imagine what hits the soldiers at the actual border posts at around 22,000 feet. Bana Post, Qazi Post or Chaman Post, from where a bewildered Major Gopal has just escaped minus 40 degrees!

Talk about wet nights: even at Camp 3, it was a nasty experience, when after two days of blizzard, our Austrian-made sleeping bags were completely wet, covered with a sheet of ice. Sleep fled downhill. We were the 32 persons in the second civilian trek to the highest battlefield in the world. One among us, a scribe, went bonkers rubbing his hands and feet the whole night. We were well clothed: Duck Down feather jackets, which can hardly be worn in the coldest nights of Delhi's winter without sweating, and below them layers and layers of highly sophisticated warm clothing supplied by our hosts, the Indian Army, but to no avail.

And even in such conditions our soldiers have the wit to name Camp 4 as Connaught Place, simply because this is where all the large outfits gather, where a whole lot of people from across the country meet, either on the way to save their country at the border posts or on their way down to save their wit itself Siachen is disorienting. Comparatively, the other camps have a handful of tents and fewer people. This wit and sense of weather-defying courage is what keeps our country safely out of the clutches of the enemies; for on one side there is Pakistan and on the other side stands China, both avariciously watching for a loose moment in our guard. So let's start our trek with a salutation to these bravehearts and just for understanding how desolate, mind-numbing and disorienting it can be, let's take the case of Major Gopal.

He had been posted at 22,000 feet for three months, the mandatory maximum duration of stay at such heights. The good major and his colleagues had been hit by the Siachen Factor. The whole army down below was agog with Pay Commission controversy, yet, when Major Gopal was asked about this, his face went blank. He was in a void, and all he and others like him could think of was escaping to their homes, for a television set, a newspaper, some warm soup that would stay warm till they finished it, and the warmth of a bed with the missus. At Siachen's Bana Post, the soup goes stone cold by the time Major Gopal finishes it, and all he can see is the blue of the sky and the white of the snow. The best of canned Alfanso and cherry inevitable items in the daily menu seem tasteless here. We first reached Base Camp, at 12,000 feet. Our instructor Lance Naik Mohammad Latief Khan told us not to get adventurous, and stay as cool as possible, but at this place, where one felt so close to the Almighty, I wanted to walk all over the mesmerising terrain. But within the first hour, we thanked Khan: we were getting breathless. We had to stay there for four days to get acclimatised. And it was then that we saw the porters and the link commanders. The first were people who carried our heavy luggage, scampering about like mountain goats; the others were soldiers who knew the way between camps blindfolded; they have to work practically blindfolded when heavy snow obliterates all landmarks. Hence, if Almighty was just within reach in the sky so close above, he had already sent his seconds-in-command to us as porters and link commanders. And all their hopes lay in OP Baba.

He was a soldier Om Prakash who died fighting the enemy alone sometime in the mid-1980s. After a while, he started coming in the dreams of soldiers, often forecasting trouble and guiding them out of it. From then on, no team goes up or leaves Siachen without propitiating the spirit of OP Baba at the picturesque temple, an all-religion affair created by the army. We did the same.

As one walked, the toughness of the terrain unravelled itself. Feet felt lead-cast. Besides, some unfathomable feelings gripped our hearts when we walked on the ladders over crevices; we could hear the sound of gurgling water somewhere deep down below but couldn't see it: they told us that anyone hitting that bottomless pit would reach temperature levels of minus 200 degrees. Two months before we reached, the bodies of two soldiers who died falling in those crevices 14 years ago, had been recovered, still un-decomposed.

Author Crossing the crevice on the Glacier.

On the trek, our truest friends were the porters, and no one was so grateful to porter Tsengey than TSI lensman Mukunda De. Here, the safety rope is the margin between life and death, so one has to cling on to his rope all the time. But with a 12 kg camera bag, his own 16 kg luggage, and a steady rush of chilling wind, Mukunda had the onerous job of taking pictures. So when Tsengey took away his luggage, he realised the core value of the word 'relieved'. To take another perspective of Siachen: we met Wing Commander Shobit Prakash, who flies sorties for reaching food and other supplies to soldiers at the glacier. But he regretted trekking across it. It sure looks like heaven from above, but man, I hate to trek this path. Flying is a cake walk! he said while tying a crape bandage over his knees which were in severe pain. The freezing cold only aggravated his agony. I wondered how he answered nature's calls with his legs in so much pain. For shit, however politically incorrect, is a word here which means just that. Sitting on a wooden plank between two kerosene drums, defecating can be as dicey as a trapeze act. In fact, Moses Kunzang, development commissioner of Leh, touched a metal pole trying to balance himself in the 'act'. He nearly got a metal bite, when the frozen metal stuck to his skin.

Thankfully, Moses knew that if he tried to pull his hand away, the entire skin would peel off, so he used hot water to gently warm off the palm and then take it away. Forget bathing, said our Camp Commander Dilbag Singh, adding with a wink: He who bathes not, returns walking; he who bathes, returns by a chopper. Read, evacuated on medical emergency. The blizzard gave us time to interact. We played antaakshari (musical tourney) all the while and the phone line to Bana Post was on the soldiers up there were hearing us sing. Please come up here for a day so that we too can enjoy! they said. Their emotions were best summed up by Corporal Pramod: We heard 20 days ago you were coming. Since then, we have been waiting to see someone not in olive!

We were to reach Camp 4 (Connaught Place, remember?) next, but had to return as the weather turned foul. On our way back, we discussed what life after Siachen would be. Shobit Prakash said he would send the pictures to all his colleagues: They must realise what our soldiers face. Yana Bey, the lady from Indian Mountaineering Federation said: This is just like other treks, but it is much too overwhelming. I feel lost in this huge, harsh reality. Her pictures from Siachen will be in her drawing room, a constant inspiration. As for me, the pictures tell the story. For me, Siachen was heaven because it took me closer to the Infinite. But for the soldiers in those tents, braving blizzards, it is close to realizing what hell is all about!

Mayank Singh | Photo by : Mukunda De

Internal security too complex

2001-11-30T19:08:00.000+05:30

What is the significance of para-military forces in the national security apparatus?

The internal security problem has become far too complex. The involvement of external forces has made it dangerous in the sense that while Pakistan is helping terrorists in Kashmir, Chinese equipment and arms, which it denies, have been found with insurgents working in north east India. The state police force is not able to control situations like these and it is here that central assistance is need. Thus, the role of the paramilitary forces becomes very important. These forces are also involved in securing and guarding our borders. They are made to switch roles such as disaster relief, holding mega events, law and order and VIP security.

What does modernization mean for para-military and are they getting adequate support?

Modernization is an ongoing process and it helps in keeping pace with times. The focus is on equipment, transport, training and communication while planning modernization and proposals are sent by the individual force to the MHA. There is no dearth of funds and the blame of delay should lie with the forces for not pursuing their case properly.

Are we are expanding our forces?

Yes. But there is a school of thought which says that instead of expanding the forces, the focus should be on strengthening them.

Considering the current internal security scenario what do you have to say?

As I said, the problem is being aggravated by outside forces. Recently very sophisticated communication equipment was found with Maoists. Add to it, the lack of political will and determination and absence of coordination and synergy. All this together have made the problems look bigger. Take the case of Naxalites, there is no national plan to deal with it. Every chief minister has his own panacea for a problem which affects them together.

There is resentment and lack of motivation among the force personnel. What is your assessment about the jawans?

Working conditions are really tough because of their role and charters of duty. While internal security is getting increasingly complex, adhocism is leading to too much confusion among the jawans who operate on ground. There are no plans for deploying them. They are just pushed in without giving any thought to logistics, communication and ration.These boys are left at the mercy of hope that nothing wrong happens. While CRPF forces are tossed from one corner to the other with multiple roles to fulfill, ITBP and BSF too along with the others have tough service conditions and multiple roles. All this takes a heavy toll on the soldiers. Uncertainty dogs them all the time. Also, the growing view that they are not getting a fair deal needs better examination. Rest and recuperation should be planned as it still has a huge deficit.