By Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 29: At a time when political pressure is being mounted on the Union Government for dismissal of the Army Chief over his letter to the Prime Minister on shortcomings in defence preparedness, chief of the prestigious Northern Command, Lt Gen K T Parnaik, today came to the support of General V K Singh stating that there must be ‘substance’ behind the findings of Army Chief about the defence preparedness.
In an informal chat with the media-persons on the sidelines of national seminar on “Afghanistan Dynamics: Impact on Regional and International Strategic Environment” organized jointly by the White Knight Corps and University of Jammu at Zorawar Singh Auditorium this evening, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command, Lt Gen Parnaik, said, “there must be some substance behind Army chief’s observations made in the letter to the Prime Minister on defence preparedness”.
About the impact of chinks in the armour on the situation in J&K, the GOC-in-C said, “there is nothing to worry. The Northern Command is fully prepared to take on any challenge. Our troops are effectively guarding the borders with the Pakistan and China”.
It is pertinent to mention here that Army chief, General V K Singh, in his leaked letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on country’s defence preparedness, has revealed gapping holes in the country’s armour mentioning that tank fleet lacks ammunition, air defence are 97 per cent obsolete and that the elite forces lack essential arms.
Earlier, while delivering inaugural address during the first session of the national seminar, Lt General Balbir Pama, Chief of the Staff, Northern Command, dwelt in detail as to how the Pakistan sponsored radical group—Taliban took control of land-locked country, adding “this was the strategy of Pakistan to have assured strategic depth against India”.
“Though after Al-Qaeda attack on World Trade Centre US led forces toppled Taliban and took control of Afghanistan yet after US diverted its attention and resources to Iraq, Taliban organized themselves into a formidable resistance with the assistance of Pakistan that continues to give them safe havens even today”, the Chief of the Staff said.
About the enduring stability in the Afghanistan, Lt Gen Pama said, “factionalism, drug abuse, desertion and weak civilian administration are some of the security challenges that Afghanistan is facing. The influence of Taliban and the risk of subversion are also very real”, adding “since Afghan National Army and Police with a strength of over 350,000 personnel require USD 7 billion per annum for mere sustenance and US cannot fund this indefinitely, the key to achieving enduring stability and security lies in a vibrant and strong economy of Afghanistan”.
“As the US has already announced its exit strategy whereby 30,000 troops that had surged into Afghanistan will be going back by summer of current year, the next year is going to be very critical for the outcome of secure and stable Afghanistan”, Lt Gen Pama said.
About the impact of Afghanistan situation on J&K, he said, “the situation in instable country has a direct bearing on the insurgency in Kashmir as such we need to monitor the situation very carefully and be ready to take whatever actions are necessary to defend our country”.
Renowned strategic analyst and former Ambassador to several countries, K C Singh, in his key note address, said, “the war in Afghanistan is longest ever fought by US in history. It is costing an expenditure of 8-9 billion dollar per month to US and total expenditure incurred on Iraq-Afghan war since 2001 is to the tune of 2 trillion US dollar”.
Stating that US has dumped Afghan-Pak region every time, he said, “this time withdrawal of US from Afghanistan will depend upon the outcome of elections in US. The re-election of Obama will provide greater flexibility to Government to take strong military action”.
He also elaborated on the role required to be played by India and China to improve situation in Afghanistan.
Earlier, Prof M P Singh Ishar, Vice-Chancellor of University of Jammu, delivered presidential address while as welcome address was delivered by Dr Mohd Monir Alam, Director Department of Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu. Maj Gen, M Ramesh Babu, GOC CIF (D) presented vote of thanks
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