Anger, shock, disappointment
THE news from Ladakh on June 15 and 16 was stunning and shocking. My first reaction was — not again. This was with reference to our being caught by total surprise again and taking heavy casualties like in Kargil, Pulwama and now Ladakh. In the absence of any official statements, rumours ran wild, differing from channel to channel and newspaper to newspaper. There are always senior spokespersons of various ministries to give us the official version, the need now is all the greater because of the speed at which social media operates and the irresponsibility with which it spreads gossip. Most of us tend to believe it. In this case, the defence ministry should have released an official version at a very high level so that its authenticity could not be challenged.
The DGMO (Director General Military Operations) led the press briefings during Pulwama — why not this time? This did not happen for whatever reason and in its absence, everybody was quoting ‘high-level sources’ to lend weight to their versions. There was a lot of speculation regarding the number of officers and jawans killed and even taken as prisoners. Some even talked about soldiers drowning or dying of hypothermia. These are officers and soldiers of the Indian Army being referred to and their colleagues all over India were watching and also their families; in fact, the whole nation was in a wait and watch situation. It was only on June 17 that the MoD gave out the official figures of casualties but there was no mention of enemy losses or prisoners. ‘The Hindu’ on June 19, again quoting ‘a security source’, claimed that 10 Army personnel were released from custody. We have no clarification. Without reference to the report, the Army authorities announced that now there are no more personnel unaccounted for.
Now, coming to the incident itself, how could we be taken by surprise when the situation had been building up for weeks? Even people in Ladakh claim to have known about the developments at Galwan and Pangong Tso fingers, which were being casually referred to as flashpoints. We were led to believe that discussions at the Army level were taking place and some kind of de-escalation and withdrawal seemed to have been decided upon. Then something went wrong and all hell was let loose and we suffered in the wake of these talks and supervised de-escalation. How did this happen and why were we taken by surprise? I’m sure that the highest political and defence levels would have been aware of the talks and the simultaneous strengthening of Chinese troops in the area. Today we have advanced surveillance systems, including satellites, which are used for military purposes only. These and other intelligence resources, including the external intelligence agencies and Army intelligence, must have been alerted in the wake of increased activity, especially in the backdrop of the Doklam developments earlier. What did we learn from all these intelligence facilities? Now we are being shown on TV new Chinese structures that have come up in the area and the heavily increased numbers of troops and vehicles and other heavy army equipment. Anyways, this is for the authorities concerned to dissect and make sure that this does not happen again.
My big disappointment is that no VVIP/VIP or Army brass from Delhi has visited Ladakh, leave alone the battlefront. How heart-breaking it must be for the officers and jawans to not have their leaders join them in grief and anger. No one to tell them that ‘this shall not happen again’. Again, the question — why has nobody visited the front, met officers and men and the injured? Is there any answer, any excuse? None, for this was a national loss and the top leadership should have been there to see and be seen by a nation in shock. I do hope for some answers, but I know none will come. So be it.
Coming to the final act, I still remember Pulwama, as does anybody who has served in J&K in uniform. The nation bowed before the martyrs when their bodies were brought to Palam. We were represented at the highest political and armed forces levels. After the ceremonies, the bodies were taken to the respective homes and the final rites performed. This time a collage of photographs in newspapers was put up and the bodies sent directly to hometowns/villages where the last rites were performed in the presence of local officials and family members. Why this discrimination, was their sacrifice any less than the Pulwama martyrs? Were they not fit to be brought to Palam and given the farewell they deserved? I’m sure that even this neglect, this failure had its reasons — maybe the time was not opportune.
All that we ask now: let us not be caught by surprise again, let there be a national-level spokesperson to give us the details as early as possible, let the VVIP/VIP be seen at the frontlines, let us honour our martyrs at a befitting national level.
Let us make one basic change at the highest levels of government — whether it is internal security or economy or other national-level problems like Covid-19 and migration, let us get together as a nation, develop a national consensus, let the government and Opposition adopt a non-partisan approach in such matters, let us be governed by consensus and not diktats. We should strengthen our institutions and make them accountable. Individual efforts can never take the place of strong institutions. At the international level also, let us remember that we were amongst the founding members of NAM and Panchsheel, which stood us in good stead for many decades and barring Pakistan, we had friendly neighbours. Today even Nepal is nursing a grudge and a new border dispute has begun. Let me end by quoting the former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who in 1955 famously remarked, “We are so close that if ever you call us from the mountain tops, we will appear at your side.” Do we have any such friends now?
— The writer is ex-chairman of UPSC, former Manipur Governor and served as J&K DGP
