Combat
worthiness of the Army
By K.S.
Bajwa
THERE has been speculation about the
Armys capability to meet threats to our security
likely to arise due to the fragile nature of our
geo-strategic environment. The Chief of the Army Staff
has also, reportedly, expressed his concern to the
Defence Minister. A retired Lieut General has claimed, in
a newspaper article, that the combat worthiness of the
Army was suspect. Such reports should be of grave concern
to the nation.
Why has the Army, which
had in the 51 years of our Independence earned the
nations admiration and trust over and over again,
become suspect as far as combat worthiness is concerned?
Is it ill-prepared to effectively perform its vital
role of defence of the nation ?
The combat power of an
army is developed by an effective combination of men and
machines. Weapons and equipment adopted by an army are
designed and rated for a desired capability. Their
performance in battle is a fairly well known asset. It is
possible to reasonably quantify the fighting potential
inherent to an army through its weapons and equipment. On
the other hand the human element, the man behind the
machine, is the intangible element.
His performance in combat
depends largely on his professional calibre, his morale
and above all his will to fight. The impact of these
elements is so profound that a force high in these
qualities may get the better of an adversary armed with
superior weapons and equipment.
A case in point were the
Indo-Pak operations in the Khem Karan Sector of Punjab in
1965. The Patton tanks and artillery of the Pak forces on
the ground and the Sabre in the air, were superior in
rated performance to what we had. Yet our more effective
handling of our weapons, combined with a determined will
to defend our land, inflicted crushing losses on the Pak
forces. The grave-yard of Pattons near Bhikhiwind has
become a byword in our military annals.
In 1947, our Army had
undergone a virtual upheaval in the process of Partition.
Its capacity to undertake sustained high intensity
operations could not be rated high. Despite heavy odds,
the upsurge of national fervour was such that the
soldiers fought with outstanding grit.
By 1962, the Army had
suffered years of deliberate neglect by the government
led by Nehru and was poorly equipped. It was ill-prepared
to undertake operations against the Chinese in the very
demanding high altitude terrain of the North-East. The
motivation provided by a combat focus which emerges out
of a clear-cut and vital national purpose was lacking.
Despite these negative factors, the soldiers would have
fought (as they did in some pockets) if their leadership
in the field had not failed them.
For instance, 4 Infantry
Division, holding virtually impregnable defences on the
heights of Se La, could have fought on even when the
Chinese had infiltrated round its flanks, only if the
General Officer Commanding of the Division had not
abandoned his command as soon as his badly sited
headquarters came under hostile fire. It is reported that
while doing so, he ditched his mobile radio and lost all
touch with his command.
Compare this with
Saragarhi in the North West Frontier in September 1897,
where a handfull of soldiers of 4 Sikh, led by Havildar
Ishar Singh, when surrounded by pathan hordes, fought to
the last man. From these pages of our military history,
it is amply evident that in the final analysis of the
equation of men and machines, it is the human will to
fight which is the denominator of success or failure in
battle. Only a negative estimate of the likely human
response can cast a shadow of doubt on the combat
worthiness of a force.
What has given rise to the
suspicion that the Army may no longer be adequate in
combat? The present state of our weapons and equipment
gives us the capability to develop just sufficient combat
power to counter likely threats from Pakistan through
Punjab-Rajasthan and from China across the restrictive
barrier of the Himalayas. There is an urgent need to
modernise and develop a power that is a more effective
deterrent.
In respect of human
resource, much is wrong. Leaders and men of the desired
quality and numbers are not joining the Army. There is
neglect and belittling of the soldier by the ruling
nexus. There is injustice in pay and perks.
Discrimination in the rehabilitation of dependents of
soldiers killed in the line of duty vis-a-vis the police
and the para military forces is another factor that
causes discontent. The litany of soldiers
grievances is long. Instead of being addressed, it is
constantly growing. In reality all these are symptoms and
not the malaise.
The problems of the armed
forces, especially the Army, emanate from a lack of
strategic security vision by the government leaders and
their failure to comprehend the importance of this
powerful instrument of state policy. Armed forces are
being taken for granted. The need to develop a sustained
will to fight is not appreciated. Incumbents of the
defence portfolio, so far, have been either
run-of-the-mill politicians, who were not aware of the
sophistication needed in handling the armed forces or
some of those, who (with their pipe-dreams of moral
righteousness) considered armed power redundant.
Even then, the damage
would not have been far reaching, if we had a suitable
organisation to assist and advise the Defence Minister
and the government. The present octopus-like Ministry of
Defence lacks professional vision and is more disposed to
muscle over the defence forces. The committee of the
three service chiefs is prone to a clash of egos and
narrow individual service interests. More often than not,
short-sighted defence ministers, abetted by bureaucrats,
have invariably emasculated this august group.
The failure to craft an
institutional set-up, that is professionally competent to
handle national security and its primary
instrument, the armed forces, has been absent. This has
been due to an inability to evolve the scope and
realistic modalities of civilian control over the defence
forces. One of the most damaging fall-outs of this
hotch-potch has been an utter confusion in spelling out
the role of the Army.
The primary function of
the Army must be to ensure security and integrity of the
country from foreign threats. Unfortunately, after
Independence, the vote-catching gimmickry has encouraged
divisive forces. Dissidence, often abetted by forces from
abroad, has been growing. Police and paramilitary forces
have shown disinclination to handle these hard tasks.
As a result the secondary
role of internal security and coming to the aid of civil
power, (inconsistent with the basic operational
philosophy of the Army) has been burgeoning year after
year.
The Army has been saddled
with such secondary tasks for decades. It is vital that
the Army should primarily remain an instrument of state
policy initiatives astride and across our borders. For
internal security and aid to civil power, the
paramilitary forces, including the BSF, should be merged
into a national force under a non-police leadership to
effectively take on this function.
It is essential that major
political parties carefully select and groom their
potential defence ministers. Fortunately, George
Fernandes, has demonstrated a promising capacity to not
only grasp the lacuna but also to act firmly to apply the
correctives. There is much for him and the government to
address themselves to. There is an urgent need to
restructure the whole set-up of the Ministry of Defence
and the three service headquarters.
Although the necessity for
a national security council has been accepted by the
present government, recommendations of the committee to
give effect to this decision are still hanging fire.
Added to the already existing lacuna , is now the urgency
to spell out a viable nuclear doctrine and to create an
infrastructure to effectively integrate our nuclear
capability into our state policy and the security
apparatus.
The other aspects that
need attention are, a joint planning staff, comprising
service professionals and defence educated bureaucrats; a
chief of the defence staff under whom the three services
are integrated; a comprehensive and attractive service
package to attract suitable leaders and men to service; a
trimming of bureaucratic flab; a national paramilitary
force for internal security and aid to civil power;
clarity in defining the role of the Army and
modernisation to develop a more convincing deterrent.
These reforms will cut
across well entrenched vested interests. They will
require political will. If our leadership does not
address itself to these urgent aspects of our security,
the battle worthiness outlook developing in the Army,
bears many similarities to the pre-1962 situation. Can we
afford another debacle?
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