Marred by controversy
By Pritam
Bhullar
WHEN the Army, paramilitary forces
and the police are deployed in a state to quell militancy
or to fight a low intensity conflict, the question of who
should be vested with the overall responsibility for
deployment has always caused problems. At present, there
is a tussle between the Army and the paramilitary forces
over this issue in Jammu and Kashmir which has cast an
ominous shadow on the counter- insurgency operations.
A unified command was
formed in the state a few years ago with the chief
minister as its head and the corps commanders of 15 and
16 corps as his advisers. In the absence of the chief
minister, the corps commanders were authorised to chair
meetings, comprising members from all the forces, in
their respective regions.
However, the chief
secretary who, according to a recent Home Ministry order,
should function as head of the Unified Command in the
absence of the chief minister, has objected to the Army
exercising overall control over the deployment of forces.
The Army feels that
since the deployment of forces to handle a proxy war
calls for professional expertise, the overall control
should rest with it. This idea does not appeal to the
heads of the paramilitary forces.
Since this unhealthy
controversy is affecting the counter-insurgency
operations in the State, the Home Ministry should resolve
the issue without any further delay. What must be
remembered is that national security should not be
sacrificed at any cost. Undoubtedly, no other agency can
handle this deployment as competently as the Army.
A
modern library
Ferozepur is one of the
largest and oldest cantonments in the country. But being
a border town, it has lagged behind in educational
feailities that most other towns boast of.
To offset this
disadvantage, a multi-purpose modern library was planned
in 1998 by Maj-Gen K.C. Padha, General Officer Commanding
(GOC) Golden Arrow Division. Happily, the project has
been completed at a cost of Rs 10 lakh by undertaking
repair, renovation and modification of old buildings and
with the help of various formations and units.
The motto of the
library, which is named as Dronacharya Library, is
"strength through learning". The library has
20,000 books on a wide variety of subjects and there is a
plan to increase this number to 50,000. It also provides
facilities for computer education. Apart from this, it
has an internet connection and a video games section for
children.
The landscaped garden
provides scenic and soothing surroundings around the main
building and the annexe of the library which act as a
"knowledge dissemination and information awareness
centre" for the whole station.
Besides all ranks of the
Army officers and their children, the library is open to
the civil population, particularly to the school and
college students of Ferozepur. This has gone a long way
in inculcating the reading habit in the younger
generation and in fostering good relationship between the
civil and the military.
Appellate
Tribunal
The 15th Law Commission
of India, in its 169th report has recommended that an
Armed Forces Appellate Tribunal be created to entertain
appeals against court martial verdicts. For this, the Law
Commission has recommended suitable amendment to the
Army, Navy and Air Force Acts. The amendments, the Law
Commission further recommends, should also provide for a
statutory appeal to the Supreme Court against the
decisions and orders of the Tribunal.
Besides, the Law
Commissions report recommends adoption of certain
measures for the prompt redressal of grievances of the
members of the three services.
No doubt, discipline is
the bedrock of the armed forces. But over the years it
has been felt that certain provisions in the law
governing the defence forces are too harsh and need to be
modified.
The Law
Commissions recommendation flows from the Supreme
Courts observation that there was a glaring
deficiency in the armed forces law because of the absence
of any provision for an appeal against the orders of
courts martial.
The Appellate Tribunal,
as recommended, will be presided over by a retired judge
of the apex court or a retired chief justice of a high
court. And it will have two members i.e. a retired
Maj-Gen or a retired officer of the equivalent rank from
the Navy or from the Air Force. Its second member will be
a retired advocate general from any of the three
services. The President and members will have a tenure of
four years.
Apart from delivering
justice to military men, this tribunal will bring down
the number of cases of defence personnal in civil courts.
Second
career
Nearly 60,000 soldiers
retire every year at a much younger age than their
civilian counterparts. Because of their early retirement,
the ex-servicemen have to find a second career. What
should this career be?
A very few who wield
influence i.e. less than 1 per cent, can find suitable
jobs. The rest have to fend for themselves. What is
recommended for them is self-employment which needs
planning and preparation of a few years while one is in
service. Besides, having led a disciplined and protected
life, defence personnel have to mentally prepare
themselves to enter civil life.
Despite the training
courses for various self-employment schemes that the
Resettlement Directorate organises and the loans that can
be obtained, very few ex-servicemen go in for these
schemes because of their hesitation and fear of not being
able to return the loans.
Mercifully, many new
schemes are floated from time to time and one such scheme
unveiled at a seminar in Chandigarh on October 9 by the
Institute of Tourism and Future Management Trends (ITFT)
was that of "resettlement of ex-defence personnel in
the tourist transport business."
Because of the active
participation of G.L. Reddy, Vice-President, Marketing,
Hindustan Motors and his staff, Maj-Gen Ugrasen Yadava,
Director-General Resettlement, Ministry of Defence,
Gurbinder Chahal, Principal Secretary Defence Services
Welfare Punjab, Dr Gulshan Sharma, Director ITFT
Chandigarh, and financial experts from the banking
industry, the seminar which was attended by over 200
ex-servicemen, proved to be very useful. The Hindustan
Motors offered a package of incentives to the ex-defence
personnel who wanted to go in for the tourist transport
business.
This
feature was published on October 31, 1999
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