Defence Notes
New
Delhi, 14 May 2012
Officers-Jawans Clash
ALL IS NOT WELL IN ARMY
By
Col (Dr) PK
Vasudeva (Retd)
“The
safety, honour & welfare of your country comes first, always & every
time. The honour, welfare & comfort of the men you command, come
next. Your own ease, comfort & safety come last, always & every time.”
Inscription at Chetwode Hall, Indian
Military Academy,
Dehradun.
Sadly, despite this motto one fails
to understand why incidents of indiscipline like in-subordination and jawans rash behaviour against officers,
a rarity in the yester years, today is occurring often in the present day Army.
Undeniably, the group clash between officers and jawans in
the highly sensitive border Ladakh area with China is unheard of and indeed
shocking. The incident points towards certain deep-rooted aberrations in the
man management aspects of the Army. The incident sent ripples down the 1.13
million-strong military, justifiably proud of its disciplined ethos and esprit de corps, and the entire defence
establishment in South Block.
This shameful breach of discipline in the Army, whereby
officers and jawans of an artillery
regiment deployed in the Nyoma sector of eastern Ladakh only 45 km away from
the Chinese Actual Line of Control (ALoC) violently clashed with each other on
10 May. The ugly brawl ended with the commanding officer of the 226 Field
Regiment deployed in Durbuk, Colonel Prasad Kadam, Major SK Sharma and two jawans being admitted to the military hospital at Leh with
multiple injuries.
According to reports, it began when
an orderly (sahayak) was thrashed by
a group of five-six young officers for misbehaving with a Major’s wife. The jawans started agitating after the sahayak was not allowed to be taken to
the hospital for medical treatment by the officers. The crisis deepened when
the officers ganged up to thrash the unit CO who tried to intervene on behalf
of the jawans. Pertinently, raising another issue of how the
officers’ were allowed to have wives and families present during a training firing
camp, that too at highly sensitive operational areas.
Recall, in 1964, a battalion of the
Assam Regiment was disbanded because of acts of collective indiscipline. Whereby, subsequent investigations showed
this indiscipline was the direct outcome of poorest leadership and management.
Hopefully, the 226 Artillery regiment will ‘eventually be disbanded’, just like
the 9 Sikh was following Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple Amritsar when
some recruits posted at Ramgarh mutinied in 1984.
Importantly the time is ripe for
army officers to be reminded once again of what former Army Chief General
Sunderji wrote to his serving officers:
“Dear Brother Officers, it is imperative that we have a totally combat effective
Army to support the revitalised India of tomorrow to earn her rightful place in
the world. This involves getting the ‘man-machine mix’ right, improving the
quality of both and placing them in a structure, which will be effective in the
battlefield ……
“However, no amount of modernisation
of arms, equipment, tactics and organisations can produce results unless we
have the right kind of man in the right state of mind, manning the system. And
that is what this letter of mine is about…”
Also, as Field Marshal Cariappa used
to say, “Good officers, good Army; bad officers, bad Army”. This is as true in
the present day as it was then. Therefore, we need to look at ourselves first,
be not only frank but also hyper-critical.
Undoubtedly, the Corps of Officers
as a whole per se, has lost much of
its self esteem, pride and élan whereby
it is becoming increasingly careerist, opportunist and sycophantic. Not only
have standards of integrity fallen but worse honour and patriotism are becoming
unfashionable.
Raising a moot point: Where are we
going wrong? True, all talk about ‘Officer Like Qualities’ and being ‘officers
and gentlemen’. This refers to the ‘Sharafat’
ingrained in the best tradition of Indian culture: Of honour and integrity; of
putting the interests of the county, Army, unit and one’s subordinates before
one’s own.
Besides, doggedness in defeat;
magnanimity in victory; of sympathy for the underdog; a standard of behaviour
and personal conduct in all circumstances. And of behaving correctly towards
one’s seniors, juniors and equals. Indeed, we have everything --- brains,
bravery, technology, skills, ability et al. All one needs to do is to get our
Act together, get moving and then we would be unstoppable.
It has been observed that the
inexperienced, vain, ill-bred and inadequately briefed officers’ wives are
generally bloated with wrong notions about ‘officer-jawan’ relationship. This exacerbates an odd strain in the working
relationship of officers and his men, especially when soldiers perform orderly
duties. There have been many such frictions earlier also, but then, wise
commanding officers contained and controlled emotions at a manageable level.
In fact, gone are the days when the jawans realm of activities and thinking
were just limited to their ‘soldierly profession’ and welfare because of poor
education. Presently, with educational standards rising, their awareness of
socio-economic and political matters has also attained new heights. While
enforcing discipline and managing the affairs of such a comparatively
enlightened lot, the officers need to modify and upgrade their handling methods
and managerial skills.
Clearly, the Ladakh incident shows
the Army in poor light. There has been a complete leadership failure due to
poor man management in the Artillery Regiment, which should not be taken
lightly. The officers behaved like ruffians with their subordinate soldiers,
which is highly condemnable. In the process tarnished the Army’s good name and
image.
Furthermore, the political and
bureaucratic leadership too cannot be absolved of the blame because of poor
working conditions, disparity in pay and allowances and shortage of officers.
Scandalously, the Army needs over 14,000 thereby affecting the morale of the
troops due to heavy workload and extreme stress on its serving officers. This has also resulted in poor intake of
motivated youth who considers joining the Armed Forces as his last priority.
Time for the Army to clean up the mess in owns backyard! ----INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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