Navy knows its job, but do offshore officials?

Navy knows its job, but do offshore officials?

Admiral Sushil Kumar (retd)

It is one thing to administer a PSU such as the DRDO and quite another to handle the armed forces.

Defence Minister AK Antony recently rebuked the Indian Navy for the loss of the submarine, INS Sindhurakshak. I wonder if he even realised his faux pas. The Navy top brass had every reason to be riled when Antony proclaimed at the annual Commanders’ Conference that the Navy had frittered away national resources.

Still recovering from the tragic loss of Sindhurakshak, the unjust remark of the Defence Minister has not gone down well with the Navy and the rank and file of the armed forces.

With all on board killed in a flash and the submarine destroyed and sunk, it will be a long time before the technical Board of Inquiry is able to establish what happened to INS Sindhurakshak. When nothing is known, is it not strange that the Ministry of Defence has jumped to its own conclusions?

To ‘clear the yardarm’ is an old Navy expression that is synonymous with washing one’s hands of a responsibility. It came into being in the days of sail when Britannia ruled the waves and Lordships of the Admiralty perched ashore found it expedient to pass the buck.

It has a lot to do with the long standing need to integrate the armed forces into the Ministry of Defence. Obviously little has happened. And since the old order has not changed, it is still the old mindset of ‘we and they’.

Calling itself the Integrated Headquarters of the MoD may sound impressive, but inducing systemic changes requires much more than a cosmetic change of nomenclature. What is really needed is a change of attitude, along with a deep understanding of military ethos.

The fighting spirit of the armed forces rides on morale. And to weld together a professionally trained and highly motivated fighting force capable of defending the nation requires astute statesmanship. It is one thing to administer a civilian public sector undertaking such as the DRDO and quite another to handle the armed forces of the nation.

The political leadership would do well to take a leaf out of the Kargil report. It carries a doctrinal message on how the armed forces should be motivated and galvanised into action when the chips are down.

The need to induct the military into the national security loop was an important lesson from the Kargil conflict. It prompted the weekly meeting of the Prime Minister with the Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Prime Minister’s aim was simply to understand his armed forces since they are the primary instrument of state power. But it was too good to last and when the National Security Council came of age, the Prime Minister’s initiative fell by the wayside.

It has never been easy to understand the operational environment of the Navy and the risks that go with it. And many are the accounts of the life and hazards aboard a submarine. But it was the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who placed it in perspective. Recording his experience under water, while embarked on the nuclear submarine INS Chakra in 1988, this is what he stated: “Thank God I was a pilot, not a submariner”.

Submariners are required to operate in the domain of danger where fire and flooding remain their greatest and constant threat. Since the year 2000, there have been 27 major submarine incidents — 10 American, six Russian, five British, two Canadian, one Australian, one Chinese, one French and one Indian (Sindhurakshak).

Moreover, being the most potent weapon of war, submarines are among the most complex war fighting machines ever developed. The experience of the Indian Navy goes back to the 1960s and having operated submarines in diverse combat conditions for more than half a century, the Navy is well geared to face the challenge that it offers.

The Russian navy went through a traumatic period after its nuclear submarine Kursk was destroyed in an underwater explosion. But the Russians came through the crisis. And so will the Indian Navy come to grips with the loss of INS Sindhurakshak. Professional navies know how to ride the storm. It is the officials ashore who need to brace themselves for the challenge.

The writer was the Navy Chief during the Kargil conflict

'Is Indian Army more powerful than America's?' asks Imran Khan

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan led a massive gathering of his supporters in Lahore on Sunday as he sought to galvanise his fledgling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party by raking up the issue of the rights of Kashmiris and seeking withdrawal of Indian troops from Jammu and Kashmir.

The rally near the Minar-e-Pakistan monument, which was attended by over 100,000 people, was aimed at projecting Mr Khan as a serious contender in Pakistan's political arena ahead of the 2013 general election.

Over the past few months, Khan's party has sought to enlarge its support base in Punjab, the country's most populous province.

Mr Khan's nearly 50-minute speech largely focussed on the problems and challenges facing Pakistan, including corruption and crippling power outages, but he used the occasion to take up several populist issues, including the Kashmir dispute.

"I want to tell Hindustan that the 700,000 troops you have kept among the Kashmiris no army has been able to solve any country's problems at any time," he said to cheers from his supporters.

"Did the Americans succeed in Afghanistan? Is the Indian Army more powerful than the US Army? When the Americans couldn't succeed, how can you succeed with 700,000 troops that are involved in excesses?" he alleged.

Mr Khan, whose party did not participate in the last general election and fared poorly in previous polls, called on India to give "Kashmiris their rights and call back the troops".

He said his party would "stand with the Kashmiri brothers and speak for their rights at all forums".

He said the rally marked the culmination of a movement begun 15 years ago by the Pakistan Tehrik to tackle the country's problems, including corruption, inflation, rising prices, lack of education, unemployment and an energy crisis.

Courtesy: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/is-indian-army-more-powerful-than-americas-asks-imran-khan-145375

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/is-indian-army-more-powerful-than-americas-asks-imran-khan-145375&cp

Vice Adm Chopra takes over as chief of Eastern Naval Command

Vice admiral Anil Chopra, currently director general of the Indian Coast Guard, takes over as chief of the Vishakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command tomorrow. Adm Chopra remained in command of the ICG for a period of 35 months.

He assumed command of the ICG post 26/11 Mumbai-attack which created circumstances ''which necessitated a much larger mandate for the coast guard," defence ministry officials were quoted as saying here.

With various acquisition proposals maturing over the last three years, the ICG is looking forward to operating with 150 ships, 100 aircraft, 42 coastal stations and 15 air units by 2018.

Officials also said at the current pace of recruitment ICG's personnel strength is likely to reach 20,000 by the end of the decade.

Two long-cherished objectives of the Coast Guard namely, the Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN) and establishment of a Coast Guard Academy have also fructified during Chopra's tenure, they said.

The Eastern Naval Command, one of the two operational commands of the Indian Navy, has jurisdiction over the Bay of Bengal as well as a large part of the Indian Ocean.

This command is also experiencing enhancement of capability and infrastructure needed to meet growing demands of maritime security on the eastern seaboard.

Earlier, Adm Chopra also served as flag officer commanding of the Western Fleet.

Courtesy: http://www.domain-b.com/people/in_the_news/20111031_adm_chopra.html

IAF task force locates MIG 29 wreckage after 8 days

After eight day long operation Indian air force received a partial success when ground team was able to locate debris of the combat plane MIG –29 that wrecked in high mountains beyond Chokang village in Lahaul area. Search teams are clueless about the missing pilot squadron leader D.S Tomar

Indian Air force Task force Commander, group Captain Capt P K Sharma- coordinating the search for the missing MiG-29 aircraft on Thursday confirmed locating crash site at 15000’ above ‘Chokhang’ village in ‘Lahaul’ area’ said Wing Commander Gerard Galway spokesman of Indian Airforce in New Delhi.

During the aerial recce , pilot spotted debris, the ground search team camping at an 15000 feet at “ Chokang” dugged the snow to recover components of aeroplane. Infdian airforce choopers had dropped eight expert mountaineers including three from Army They spent the night on the ledge with just basic survival gear ‘ said the spokesman. The Indian Airforce had brought team sherpa from Darejeelinmg, who have expertise in the carrying rescue and ground search in high himalaya’s that assisted the army mountaineers.

The recovered parts will be brought down at the base camp, where the aeronautical experts would verify them. “ These are being brought down to base camp for proper identification. Indian airfoce had pressed into service remotely Piloted Aircraft and other aircraft which conducted the photo reconnaissance of the area” said the spokesman.

“Though the inputs were correct, however, since the crashed aircraft had disintegrated into small pieces and the debris was spread across the slopes on either side of the ridge it could not be conclusively identified” said. After the crash pradhan of Thirot Panchyat Jagdish Sharma along with villagemen had trekked the high mountains and brought burnt pieces if the plans that was scattered across the snow.

However the intermittent spell of snow in the high mountains had removed the traces of the debris detected during aerial recce.

The IAF search teams were dropped on the ledge 200m above the suspected crash site at an elevation of 15000 feet high in the avalanche prone area.

After the the MIG 29 went missaing on the October 19 search continued to located the pilot and the wreckage of the plane. About 55 personnel in all including expert mountaineers from the IAF, Army and some hired mountaineers are involved in the search of the pilot & debris of the missing aircraft.

A total of 149 sorties have been flown toward toward the search and rescue effort till 25 Oct 2011.AOC-in-C WAC, Air Marshal D C Kumaria, “the search would continue till we reach to the bottom of case and arrive at definite conclusions”.

Courtesy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/JAndK/IAF-task-force-locates-MIG-29-wreckage-after-8-days/Article1-761881.aspx

Omar Abdullah denies undermining Indian army

The chief of the disputed state of Indian-administered Kashmir has moved to reassure the Indian army over plans to withdraw tough laws that shield security forces fighting insurgents.

Omar Abdullah announced last week that emergency laws imposed in 1990 allowing troops to act with near-impunity are to be partially withdrawn as security improves in the region.

The reviled Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was introduced to give the army and paramilitary forces — who number 500,000 in Indian-administered Kashmir today — sweeping powers to detain people, use deadly force and destroy property.

Army and paramilitary officers are opposed to revoking the act, saying it is an important part of efforts to tackle the 20-year insurgency against New Delhi’s rule over the Muslim-majority region.

“The removal of AFSPA is in no way an effort to undermine the role of the army which essentially is playing a major role in the anti-militancy operations in the state,” Abdullah said in a statement released late Wednesday.

“The process of removal of AFSPA from certain areas of the state is being done in close consultation with the army,” the chief minister said.

Most commercial districts, schools and offices in the Kashmir valley were shut on Thursday in annual protest against the presence of Indian soldiers in the region.

Indian soldiers arrived in Kashmir on October 27, 1947 after the Himalayan region’s Hindu ruler requested help to fend off an invasion by Pakistan-backed tribesmen.

Maharaja Hari Singh initially held out for independence for Kashmir when Britain withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in August 1947.

Since Abdullah’s AFSPA announcement on Friday, there have been a series of grenade attacks aimed at security posts.

Five civilians and policemen have been injured.

Militant violence has dropped sharply in Kashmir since India and Pakistan, which each hold the region in part but claim it in full, started a peace process in 2004.

Courtesy: http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/27/omar-abdullah-denies-undermining-indian-army.html