Col J P Singh
When thousands turn up to pay last respect to ‘veergati ko prapat Shaheed’ and the millions watch the TV seeing the young siblings of the martyr not even understanding what is happening infront of them, the other tender hearts break and many just break-down. It gives a message to the govt. The pall of gloom descends the villages / towns where the tragedy occurs. Those who face it know it the best. Senior leaders/officers are seen as pall-bearers and going around consoling the family and relatives. The so called glory of ceremonial send off overtakes the gloom of the grief. This continues happening because of encounters in the valley on daily basis. The professional Indian Soldier is driven by the credo of ‘nam aur namak’ from where flows the understanding that ‘fauji is willing to lay down his life for the country. Songs such as ‘dekho veer jawano apne khnoon pe yeh ilzam na aye; maan na bole mere bête waqt par desh ke kam na aye’ abet the credo. (politicians say they are meant to die or paid for it). For a change we have a seasoned politician and a heavy weight leader as Raksha Mantri, seen paying last respects to the mortal remains of Maj Ketan Sharma, seems to be concerned about the soldiers.
Nationalism and security were the key issues in the last election. Recollecting horror of Pulwama, (related to the K issue), which resulted in 44 fatalities of brave CRPF soldiers and the associated gory sights at the site of incident, followed by the depressing scenes when whatever was left of the martyrs (corpses) reached end destination, one is bound to hold his breath. Luckily the IAF carried out a surgical air strike inflicting damages to terrorist facilities in Balakot and put a balm on nation’s wounds. But Pakistan retorted within 24 hours. When IAF intercepted the intruding aircrafts, it shot one of their F-16 but crashed resulting in the capture of the Pilot as PoW. Nation was surcharged with anger. Clouds of war had started hovering overhead. WhatsApp messages for accumulating provisions for an impending war started pouring in. Luckily the political brinkmanship overtook the war hysteria and ended up with just an Air Strike. Safe return of Wg Cdr Abhinandan within 48 hours indeed saved a holocaust. Otherwise election would have triggered a war easily in today’s troubled world and a restive neighborhood. Nation’s security should always be of paramount importance and should not be made subservient to any political party’s electoral ambitions or projection of a leader.
Kashmir is getting drenched in the blood of the nation. Nearly one lakh persons have been killed in 30 years of insurgency which is showing no signs of abating. Thousands of body bags have gone home. Nation has paid a heavy price for Kashmir. The dispute has caused untold miseries to the nation. Families of the martyrs become holy stick in the election bonfire. Kashmir (Pulwama-Balakot), as we all saw, was the key election winning factor. But for this, results may well have been different.
3 to 4 men are getting killed on daily basis for almost the same number of militants. Maj Ketan Sharma, Rfn Anil Kumar Jaswal, Hav Amarjit Kumar and Nk Ajit Kumar were killed in one go in an encounter. A total of 10 was the weekly tally. The question rises, ‘for Whom the Bell Tolls? Please think about it. Military hasn’t started this conflict. It is creation of politicians. Its solution is elusive due to their insensitivity. What is that one reason which throws spotlight on the sacrifices of our young soldiers. For a middle level intellectual the answer may be growing insurgency and a foreign hand behind it. For me it is lack of political will to resolve the K issue. It is a political problem not a military. How can we see the blood of innocent on the soil of Kashmir and yet be indifferent to it and leave it to the army to restore peace. Unprecedented killings affects the morale of the soldiers. Morale is a great factor in conflict ridden situations. Morale of a serving soldier is greatly dependent on how he perceives the respect accorded to his martyrdom; how his family is treated and the post retirement status accorded to a veteran, a tag that would be attached to his name one day if he survives. If all the years spent by soldiers in operational areas, away from families while the children grew up at their own and the wives managed household chores single handedly are compensated, they cherish the hardships in the ageing memories and if acknowledged by the society, the serving soldiers happily die for the motherland and the veterans enjoy the joy of once having donned the uniform. Following need urgent attention of new Raksha Mantri to boost the sagging morale of the soldiers. (i) OROP. Soldiers retire at an early age. A BSF constable gets 5.5 times more pension than army-man because he gets 20 to 25 years more to serve and takes benefits of more pay commissions besides promotions. Hence the assured equalization of OROP every 5 years, now due in July, must be done earliest. (ii) NFU to central services has put serving officers at lower status. Either the NFU should be given to the armed forces or withdrawn from all as is being heard. (iii) Medical services provided to the veterans through ECHS are not satisfactory. Adequate funds are not provided. Separate Veteran Military Hospitals should be opened or dependency on existing restored. (iv) Quality of rations needs to be improved. Restoration of rations to the officers after a gap of two years is due to new RM. (v) CSD facilities were given to the troops because of their postings to operational/remote areas and families staying in separated accommodation. Later extended to defence civilians. Control of the CSD has been shifted from armed forces to an IAS Jt Secretary and the facilities are being curtailed. CSD facility must only be provided to the men in uniform and control reverted. (vi) Highway Toll Tax. Till 2014, serving and retired soldiers were exempt from Toll. Now only serving men travelling in military vehicle are exempt. Toll concession must be restored. (vii) Status. A soldier values his status. MOD has been continuously undermining it. In a recent order, a Colonel has been relegated to even below the level of a Director and JCOs declared non-gazetted officers. NFU has further downgraded them. This needs to be corrected. All this has happened after 2014 ie during NDA-II. Hence the question, ‘for whom the bell tolls.
The Governor has invited militants to the negotiating table and meetings over dinner. But this is repetition of the blunder of the past. Instead of initiating process of merging the state fully with the Union, the assertions of solving the problem by appeasement is waste of time and opportunity. Harsh political decisions such as revocation of Article 370 and/or trifurcation may be one of the solution. If the political promises allude, the nation which voted enthusiastically for K imbroglio and gave an unexpected mandate will not be able to walk to the polling booth next time with chest up.
For a change, we have a strong Prime Minister, a heavyweight defence minister and an efficient home minister. They will have not only to answer the questions but to give solutions to prevent loss of innocent lives.
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