Armies don’t take hostages - Broadsword by Ajai Shukla - Strategy. Economics. Defence.

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Monday 5 June 2017

Armies don’t take hostages

Army must safeguard its ethics and values. As the confrontation in Kashmir grows more vicious, this will require all its focus

By Ajai Shukla 
Business Standard, 6th June 17

It testifies to the resilience of Indian public debate that, four weeks after Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi, an army officer in Kashmir’s Budgam district, tied an innocent civilian to his jeep as a human shield against stone-throwing mobs, criticism continues despite official justifications. This is an important debate. In question here is not just an isolated incident of military misjudgement, which happens in moments of extreme stress in operations. Instead, with the government and army establishments publicly justifying and condoning the actions of the officer, the question is more fundamental: Were Major Gogoi’s actions in line with the ethos and principles that undergird the military?

From the start, government officials and the army chief himself solidly supported Major Gogoi’s contention that he had no option but this extraordinary measure to safely evacuate polling officials from a voting station near Budgam. Their lives, he argued, were threatened by a mob that had gathered to disrupt voting. To obtain clear passage through the stone-pelting mob, Major Gogoi picked up Farooq Ahmed Dar, ironically an innocent shawl-weaver who had just cast his vote in defiance of the separatist diktat. With cellphone cameras rolling and capturing video of Major Gogoi’s rescue convoy, which was also threatening through a loudspeaker that stone pelters would meet the same fate as Dar, the officer successfully extricated the polling officials. Dar was released, physically unhurt, after spending hours being driven around tied to the front of the jeep.

Predictably, videos of this spectacle went quickly viral on social media, painting the military as an army of occupation that cowered behind human shields. For the army, which Kashmiri separatists routinely criticise, but mostly respect as an impartial and restrained force, this was a humiliating blow to its public image.

The most compelling argument made by the diverse cast of characters that sprang to Major Gogoi’s defence was that the officer had saved many lives. These included Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and army chief, General Bipin Rawat, who cut the ground out from under an army court of inquiry that is investigating Major Gogoi’s conduct by summarily awarding him a commendation. Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh argued in an article: “When Major Nitin Gogoi decided (and, mind you, it could not have been anything other than a split-second decision) to use a civilian as a ‘human shield’ to protect his men from a stone-pelting mob, he was simply reacting to a tough situation in a dangerous environment.”

This raises two fundamental issues. Foremost is the worrying reality that the army is being permitted, even encouraged, by its chief to operate like a police force rather than as the military – the last recourse of the state. According to its own sacred regulations and operational procedures, the army shoots for effect when called in, rather than trying to save lives through measures like firing over the heads of a crowd, far less taking hostages. Major Gogoi’s militarily correct course of action would have been to warn the crowd to disperse and, if it refused to obey, to open fire with due restraint. That is what is prescribed in the “Regulations for the Army”, the foundational document that every officer possesses and reads. As it turned out, Major Gogoi might well have saved protesters’ lives by opting for a human shield to force his way through the mob. But he incalculably damaged the army’s reputation, not just in Kashmir, but anywhere that video is seen. The army must introspect what constitutes greater damage: A blow to its institutional credibility and the dilution of its operational culture, or the admittedly tragic consequences of dispersing the mob with fire.

After all, where does the “but he saved lives” argument lead to in a counter-insurgency environment? Would the army chief use the same logic if a military officer who has cornered a Kashmiri militant holds a gun to the head of his two-year-old daughter and orders the militant’s wife to bring her husband out to surrender? That might save lives too.

This mortifying scenario might not be so far-fetched, going by what the army chief said in an interview with PTI last week. General Rawat declared: “This [Kashmir] is a proxy war and proxy war is a dirty war. It is played in a dirty way. The rules of engagements are there when the adversary comes face-to-face and fights with you. It is a dirty war... That is where innovation comes in. You fight a dirty war with innovations.”

Is this is now government policy? Does the army’s counter-insurgency challenge in Kashmir require it to function less like an army and more like a police or intelligence organisation? Is that what was intended when the government chose General Rawat over two more senior officers from the mechanised forces to become chief? In “off the record” briefings, army spokespersons explained at that time that General Rawat had been made chief because of his longer experience in Kashmir. Does “longer experience” translate into gaining tactical results through unmilitary ruses and devices, even if they incurred strategic, political and public perception costs that far outweighed the benefits obtained?

The army has successfully dealt with insurgencies in Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam and Manipur without sacrificing its fundamental character as a warfighting army that abides by principles of honour and creed. It did this too in the first two decades of combating the Kashmir separatist insurgency, successfully creating a sanitised security environment in which New Delhi could have (but did not) initiated political processes to craft a settlement. Since 2009, however, when the centre of gravity of the Kashmir agitation shifted from armed militancy to intifada-style unarmed public protests, the army has struggled to deal with a new and infinitely more challenging security environment. This was starkly clear from General Rawat’s interview with PTI, where he stated: “I wish these people, instead of throwing stones at us, were firing weapons at us. Then I would have been happy. Then I could do what I (want to do).”

This, however, is wishful thinking from a bygone era. The army will increasingly have to do what it least wants to – confronting unarmed, rock-throwing, violent public protests. Its key challenge will be to do so without diluting its foundational warrior ethos with self-serving, and eventually self-destructive rationales about the need to “fight a dirty war with innovation”. Complicating the army’s task is the pressure it faces to compensate for political failure. As Lieutenant General DS Hooda, one of the army’s most thoughtful commanders in recent times, noted in the context of the Gogoi incident: “There will be political influences, it is in the nature of democracies, and pressure from public opinion. But the military ethic must stand on its principles and values. As the environment in Kashmir grows more vicious, this will require all our focus.

59 comments:

  1. The act of Maj Gogoi was clearly wrong. See my detailed post on it at https://thewire.in/140260/human-shield-army-honour/. The bigger problem is the newfound willingness of the army to do whatever be the bidding of the government in power, irrespective of its correctness. For long, BJP has been trying to gain support of a particular segment of voters by showing that it has strengthened the army while the previous regime had hobbled it. Disturbingly, the connection is now being made why Gen Rawat was chosen over the heads of 2 seniors to be COAS.

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    1. Asthana you are absolutely correct, as soon as Gogoi reached the spot and saw a huge mob of stone pelters, he immediately rang up Jaitley, who in turn informed PMO and an emergency meeting of CCS was convened and decision taken that Gogoi should be ordered to get hold a person especially an innocent law abiding voter, who has come to cast his vote 20 kms from his village after risking his life and defying separatists Boycott, then this person should be tied in front of Jeep and taken around the area. Good observation Asthana, well done, keep it up.

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    2. Sir, do let us know , "If and when" Mr. Asthana accepts your exhilarating compliment.

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    3. To these Modi bhagats : please google the Israeli army's disciplinary action against a Israeli sargeant in a similar situation. Gogoi has been a coward. The oppurtunistic and que jumping Army Chief decided to support this cowardice because it was again, an oppurtunistic short cut taken by an officer from the ranks (like Gen Rawat's father who is also from the ranks). This is the reason that Gen Rawat short circuited the Court of Enquiry. By the way, if the RSS policy makers went back in time to research Gen Rawat's longer tenure in J&K, they should have gone back to NDA where Gen Rawat was relegated for not jumping from the board in a swimming test. Talk about courage expected from an officer (what to talk about a chief). The tragedy is that no journalist(in the absence of any worthwhile political leaders of the opposition) has taken care to investigate the connections between Gen Rawat's father (ex vice chief) and Uttarakhand's BJP Chief Minister, Mr Khanduri (an ex General himself)and the role they had in the supersession of two Generals.

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  2. What do you mean armies don't take hostages? Of course, they do. Guerrilla warfare is a terrible, disgusting, thing. There isn't no decent way to conduct it or to oppose it without losing the war. And what could be a greater failure than failure at war?

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  3. The author has simply lost his mind....he is suggesting that the the idea of 20 people shot dead is better than what Gogoi did....if indeed a few had been killed, this same author would be singing a different tune all together.....the term 'prestitute' was not coined without reason.

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  4. Sir, it seems that in your attempt to prove your point you have been guilty of some OTT justifications. For example you start by asserting that `an army officer in Kashmir’s Budgam district, tied an innocent civilian to his jeep as a human shield`. Pray how did you conclude that Farooq Dar is `innocent'? Than you go on to draw a flawed comparison between this event and a fictional army officer holding gun to head of a two year old to get cornered terrorists to surrender! Pray why would an army officer want a cornered terrorist to surrender? You apparently stand with Lieutenant General Panag, who also condemned tying of stone-pelter to jeep bonnet and when asked for his solution the good general said the Army Officer should have opened fire on stone-pelters! Such critiques and solutions can only be drawn by armchair tacticians who have never operated on ground in counter-terror or counter-insurgency. Have a good day!

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  5. Col Shukla.. An army's job is to get the darned job done.. No excuses are ever accepted, few are given.. If your unit was ever ordered into battle to punch through the enemy's defenses, your CO wouldn't have cared lesser if you rode a tank or an effing mule as long as your column landed up in the enemy's rear in the shortest possible time...

    The army is called in India only when all else fails.. If you can't deal with it yourself, let the men on the ground use whatever means they have at their disposal. Don't wave rule books into their face after telling them to risk their lives for you... Don't expect them to act like a mass murdering terrorist force that shoots up civilians unless there is no other option available. Men have shot themselves instead of shooting unarmed civilians. That is the ethos of the fauj.. Don't invent new ones to suit your motives.

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  6. Writer of this article has written this for money.
    He must know that army/ commander should take any action which he feels fit,in a war like scenario.

    Army officer takes decisions not in board room but at the spur of the moment.

    Any way feed your family with money earned from such stupid articles.

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  7. Innocent Civilian? Innocent civilians don't throw stones and petrol bombs

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  8. Don't you think this was better than firing at an unarmed crowd? The army is being asked to do things that they are not trained for i.e. fight unarmed civilians. The major was being resourceful and minimize loss of life.

    - Cujo

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  9. Col you are a petrified decaying flesh. That was Creative solution at spur of moment not a permanent policy. Everybody knows that. You don't have to embarrass our brave from trying. You can well decay & no sympathies for you what so ever.

    Sumeet

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  10. why pakis take only Heads !! Ajai guru ! enlighten me !..isn't the generation has changed

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  11. Lots of mist and smoke in the mind and perceptions of the so called ex mechanized forces Colonel who seems to argue that the present Infantry COAS is less competent to deal with counter insurgency operations than the two other generals he superseded.Of course, that pain will be carried by some to their graves. However, the Regulation for Army does not say that shooting for affect with bullets is the first and beginning recourse.It is the last resort - we all know it. Army is but the last instrument of violence to be exercised by the state. However, what happens when when Army is the only instrument of exercising violence on behalf the sovereign exists, all other lesser instruments like administration and Police having failed. Can Col Shukla ponder over why the intifada type of frenzy was allowed to take root and allowed to spread in recent past specially through so called doctrinal counter insurgency measures as Sadbhavana. Stone pelting practices are not very old phenomenon. Why was stone pelting allowed to spread from police to Army. It is because of pseudo libarts like Shula's shrill voices and opposition to whatever security forces are supposed to do. And look now, today the devil has become advocate of Army Regulations. Preventive custody during operations is part of law and that being called hostage taking is but mockery of understanding the basics.Security forces periodically confine and prevent movement, assembly. activities, freedom and other liberties under the laws of the land. Period.

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  12. Dear Sir,

    I fully respect your opinion about preserving the army ethos and high tradition of moral superiority. However, similar tactics of targeting terrorists' families was adopted by Russian army / special forces to get rid of terrorists in Chechnya. And it worked very well.

    Terrorists are NOT normal human beings and hence don't deserve the normal treatment.

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  13. Shukla Ji,



    THE ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) ACT, 1958
    .....................................

    4. Special Powers of the armed forces – Any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the
    armed forces may, in a disturbed area,-
    (a) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary, fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or move persons or the carrying of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons or of fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances;


    Now, there is nothing therein to say anything about Infantry or Mechanised -a thing you are assiduously and deliberately using for past so many years to harm Indian Army.

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  14. I beg to differ, sir. Insurgencies in the NE have not been dealt with. And the NE is where we, as an organization have been utterly unprofessional.
    But I do agree with you. The pivot that the Chief should have rallied behind was Lt Umar Fayaz, not Maj Gogoi.
    Well written, as always!

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  15. I love how all the people who are criticizing a retired Army officer with the assumption that they know more about war and conflict than him.

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  16. not hostage taking... used shikandi... krishna did... dharam uddh...

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  17. It is under investigation by a commission. Let us wait for the result. Let us also accept the honor bestowed on Mr.Gogoi. It was a smart move to save lives without much harm.

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  18. Dear Shri Shukla,
    Whatever you have written in your blog cannot obscure the most basic fact staring us all in the face. That Major Gogoi was perfectly within his right to fire on hundreds of blood thirsty stone pelters and jihadi mobs in self-defence and killing scores of them. Instead he chose not to, thus saving more than a thousand lives. And that is exemplary courage in the face of the gravest provocation and mortal danger. Just think what other armies would have done. Captain Oliver Stone, recipient of the US Medal of honour, equivalent to our Param Vir Chakra, showcased US Army brutality in Platoon. This Army would have panicked and felled hundreds of these jihadi mobs, had it the misfortune of being posted in Kashmir. As a former army officer, Shukla, what would you have done. Please don't DELIVER HOMILES AND LONG LECTURES WHICH HAVE NO RELEVANCE. And if you indeed love free speech, you will not prevent my comment from being posted on your website.

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  19. so funny...tomorrow you may say 'Armies don't Kill'. What will the armies do then ???..Parade on republic day ??..Taking hostage is better than firing.. Army should be complemented for this and not criticized

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  20. THE MAJOR GOGOI AFFAIR AND THE CHIEFS SUPPORT HAS RAISED NEW BOUNDARIES AND TIME TO ASK AFEW QUESTIONS . THE ARMY,S DOCTRINE IN SUCH CASES REQUIRES THE OFFICER ON SIGHT TO WARN THE CROWD
    AND THEN FIRE . ARE KASHMIRIS OUR ENEMIES LIKE PAKISTAN . IF THE ANSWER IS NO THEN WHAT THE MAJ DID AT THE SPUR OF MOMENT IS RIGHT . THE CHIEF IS RIGHT IN SUPPORTING HIM .
    THE DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS AND POLITCIANS POLICE AND PARA FORCES MUST NOW ANSWER .WILL THE INDIAN SUPREME COURT , MOD BABUS POLITICIANS NOW LAY ANY GUIDELINES FOR FUTURE INCIDENTS . WOULD THE MAJ HAVE BEEN WISE IF HE HAD LIKE THE POLICE OR PARA FORCES NOT HEARD AND NOT ACTED ON THE SOSCALL OF THE ELECTION OFFICER .A FEW INNOCENT OR GHOOSKHORS WOULD HAVE DIED . THE MAJ COULD HAVE GIVEN EXCUSE NOT HEARD OR SET WAS NON OPS . THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES ARE RESULT ORIENTED AND DELIVER . THE MAJ DELIVERED . LET THE JUDGES , BABUS , POLITICIANS LAY DOWN GUIDELINES WHICH THE ARMY MAY THEN CONSIDER TO FOLLOW OR LET THEM GO BY AND GO BY ITS OWN GUIDELINES .

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  21. Kashmir represents failure of the state Government and its machinery. This too over 7 decades . Even today J&K government has no spine to govern. The village panchayats are not functional , it's sarpanches gunned down.
    Absolutely no peace is possible .

    Why was Army called into rescue the polling booth hostages ?
    What the hell was local station in charge and District SP doing ?
    Plain dereliction of duty by the policemen must be sacked.
    Now the the same idiots want lodge a complaint . Joke.
    Who told you the guy tied was innocent bystander not one of the stone throwers ?

    Contrast this to Punjab, their police chief wanted his boys to take lead !

    We need to commend Major Gogoi's action. I hope he gets a Kirti chakra or something.

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  22. No where in the world does an army face stone throwers.When an Army is called out in aid to civil authorities they have to act differently than the normal military way.The only alternative before the Major was to kill a few stone throwers and rescue the policemen he was asked to do.He preferred the out of box solution and saved precious lives.Arm chair strategist need to keep quiet and not pontificate.

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  23. if maj gogoi were an armour officer, shukla would have bee singing a completely different tune.
    I agree with the criticism , and how the army ought to be used for effect.
    But, linking of army chief to politics, and the other senior commanders to "merit, as if armour officers have some divine inheritance of merit, shows how retarded the author is in his thinking."
    shukla thinks only armour officers are fit to warm the coveted posts by their bums, afterall, this what most armour officers do sitting in their plush messes, while other arms & services slog in the field.
    the article shows the immense hatred harboured by this nincompoop of an author for the chiefs from infantry, shukla is like a dog who starts barking as soon as he sees infantry, this is the kind of fear, and hatred the infantry espouses, is it due to the sheer professionalism of the infantry that softies like armour have nothing left but inferiority complex ?
    #prestitute

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    1. What is the merit in insulting someone personally with unfounded allegations which has nothing to do with the subject at hand? Do you always react this way to opinions differing from yours? Really lacking...

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  24. If one carries out a simple survey from responses here and elsewhere in media, it is clear that the majority not only pardons these transgressions by Maj Gogoi and Gen Rawat, they outrightly applaud them and ask for more of these. Since things inevitably turn the way the majority wants, I shudder at what Indian army will be just 5 years from now. Even three ex chiefs have echoed the sentiment of the crowd, so there is no redemption at all. Watch my words.

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    1. Dear Alok Sir,
      What is the definition of your "Redemption" ? Serve Kashmir on platter to enemy ?

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  25. What was the option left, get killed and allow terrorist supporters to kill govt officials who are under protection of Indian armed forces or kill 10 to 20 stone peltes or tie their leader to jeep and evacuate innocent officer s

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  26. What do you mean armies don't take hostages? Of course, they do. Guerrilla warfare is a terrible, disgusting, thing. Foodies Pie

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  27. Col. Shukla,

    I commend your commitment to uphold both the military's code of ethics as well as that of rule of law. As a field officer, I believe you have a much better perspective on the duties and responsibilities of an officer to his own men and his country than the naysayers on comment boards. Insurrections and protests are seldom quelled with violence, but in this instance, the alternative - tarnishing the army's reputation as a respectable player in this conflict - is a far worse outcome than the loss of lives.

    Chaining anyone, innocent or otherwise, to be used as a human shield is against every code of law or ethics. To those above, there are ways to end rebellions and protests without making a fool of yourself like this Major did. The photo of a man chained to a jeep is far more damaging than a couple more statistics in a casualty list. For those of you proclaiming "dharma", consider that it is righteous to use violence when cause is given. There is no "dharma" in chaining a civilian to be used as a human shield. Yudhishtira ultimately pays a price for Drona's death - remember that.

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  28. @Bharat Bhushan - No, Bharat, the scenario that you attribute to my post is not what I meant. Here's an alternate one. Try this for size -- 'After the Gogoi act, the army was about to announce that it was a one time mistake and won't happen again. When the RM came to know of it, he calls up Gen Rawat to say that the recommended course of action would make it appear that the army is being held back in J&K by BJP and that would be bad for BJPs chances in coming elections. Chief protested but was put down firmly. RM further suggested that the army award him instead, which would then be claimed as how the BJP has made the army 'more muscular'. Gen Rawat complied, though under protest'.

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  29. KASHMIR IS THE FESTERING WOUND LEFT BY THE DYNASTY NEHRU INDIRA GANDHI FAMILY . FOR IT TO BE SOLVED INDIAN DEMOCRACY AND THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES MUST FIRST CRUSH CURTAIL THE DYNASTIES WHI CH RISE TO GOVERN , COMMAND AND RULE INDIA . WHETHER BAUS POLICE ARMED FORCES CIVIL SERVICES POLITICANS DYNASTY UPGRADATION IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF EVIL . TO CRUSH THE INTIFADA IN KASHMIR A HARD HEADED PUNJAB POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS GROOMED UNDER KPS GILL MUST BE BROUGHT WITH AFEW PUNJAB POLICE BATTALIONS AND THE UPRISING CRUSHED WITH HURRIYAT GOONS EITHER JAILED OR GUNNED DOWN .THE ARMY MUST BE WITHDRAWN FROM THE INTERNAL SECURITY DUTIES .

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  30. @alok if you had fun with your fairy tales, why dont you go face the Kashmiri stone pelter next time and stand before our boys. This Shukla is a congress stooge so he and his types will find mistake in anything the government does, but what is your claim to stupidity

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  31. Most of the respondent here are Moodi Bhakts. There is not even an ounce of martial material in them or has ever been in their lineage. Their moral compass is that of the street dog. Anything and everything is acceptable (except beef off course! or maybe not!).

    Once a military force looses its honour and moral compass, its downhill from there. IA has been on the down hill path for a while but this will accelerate it, especially if the men leading it are beholden to their political masters and their street dogs. The lion will become no better than a street dog. Pity. IA and especially its officer corp are admired the world over, even across the border.

    This is very dangerous, as the level of professionalism increases across the northern and western border, IA is going in the opposite direction.

    Prasun

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  32. The realisation must dawn on India that Kashmiris are not Indians and have no desire to be Indians, EVER. We have been trying to correct the mistake made in 1948. Just as the Azad Kashmir's and the FATA tribesmen told then, that our generations will pay the price. Today Kashmiri, if he/she protests, either gets Blinded, Shot or taken as Hostage by the warriors of India. Such is the plight of our people.

    But there is hope. Something has snapped in our people, the fear is gone. Our heros are walking this earth amongst us whilst yours are on the screen, made in bollywood. We want our freedom and even if it takes another 10 generations we will achieve it.

    Abs

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  33. Considering the fact that our imagination or situation painting is heavily influenced by our own experiences and biases @Alok Asthana must have gone through his days in uniform `compling, though under protest'!

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  34. @Alok Asthana

    What can be worse than portraying a Major's actions in counterinsurgency as a political act - that too ofa prtyicular Party- BJP. Do you mean to say you have been serving for so many years in the Army for Congress and their ideology or their internal politics goals, say for establishing "Nagaland for Christ" ? From your writing, it does appear to be so. And in that light is it worth sermonizing about Ethics?? Since when has the idea of "Just War" been appended to internal politics of the country? Obviously - for the likes of you, since Modi came to power and before that everything was so perfect. Shame !!

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  35. The problem with the Indian army is that the officer cadre (especially like the ones who have been mollycoddled by the previous Congress regimes) are too principled. We need an army that more than being complemented for being a restrained force, is a force which can enforce discipline by perception alone. The army has been deployed in Kashmir for 27 years now, yet there are armed groups operating with relative impunity in the valley (so what if the numbers are down). Just compare the perception of the how the Pakistani army will deal with a TTP militant vs the Indian army will deal with a Kashmiri militant.

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    1. The Indian Army must answer and justify their actions to civilian authorities and by extension to the citizens. As it should be in a democracy. The Pakistani Army does not have to work under these constraining factors.

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  36. Rather than going in big prospective it's better to focus on situation at that very moment. As human lives were at stake, whether its of stone pelters or army men or officials under there protection. It doesn't matter what people will think later if lives were lost, because no ethics or etiquette can bring it back. It would have been a collateral damage. But indeed I would say, that I have been following this blog religiously and have been taking words from the author quite like professy. But in this write up I have complete different view. Please don't mind my hard words respected sir.......... But were u DRUNK while writing this? Or ur page has been hacked by someone?

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  37. @ Annonymous?, who commented on my post on 10 June 2017 at 08:36 (just too many guys here posting with anonymity. Scared of revealing name?) - Pal, you've simply not understood my remarks. I have accused Gen Rawat (and not Maj Gogoi) of an act inspired/pressurized by a politician. Read again, slowly this time.

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  38. Yeah definitely, if in Assam if Mr.Gogoi's friends or loved one's are tied in front of jeep and driven around like he did and ask Mr Gogoi's reaction he will definitely answer differently.Also these issues should not be discussed by Army in public domain.Not going to help Mr Gogoi,Rawat or any Army men deployed in Kashmir.
    Except to please the political class and helping them in turn into a political slug fest. Either in support or against it.Because they are not going to face the situation which Mr Gogoi faced or any army men faces everyday in Kashmir.

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  39. Sir, I agree with earlier poster about pivot 'should have been Lt Fayyaz, not Maj Gogoi'. But, at the end of the day, Farooq Dar walked away, with nothing more than his bruised ego - and so did the person who shot the video, within spitting/stone-pelting distance.
    Maj Gogoi did not go out 'seeking' a hostage to embellish his bonnet. Yes, it does violate the laid down norms under which the Indian Army operates, but we are kidding ourselves, if we believe that the situation in Kashmir turned into a war, and had the West/UN not been pre-occupied, we would have been in hot water defending the nuances.

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  40. The death of a single person is a tragedy..the death of millions is just a statistic-JS. That being said, the col is right in justifying the importance of Honor and ethos in an institution. Human shields might save you once but how many times. You will have lost all credibility at the first instance. And whatever the army officer did might have been to his best understanding. But the army condoning such action showed how low it had stopped.

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  41. I absolutely agree with Ajay Shukla. Army must up hold its ethos. This was a big set back for the Army's image. I feel presently the entire approach to Kasmir problem is flawed and overly aggressive

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  42. None of the stone pelter is innocent. They must be punished strictly.

    Mr. Shukla, I have been following your blog since many years, but now it seems that you have totally lost your credibility.

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  43. Have you noticed the tactics the mob were carrying out as similar to those being practiced by Palestinians ?, Its is obvious that Army also carrying out counter tactics by learning ways of IDF, You should have noticed it, This gives a wrong impression of the environment and Army itself.

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  44. the Army should use helicopters like the MI 18. Similarly to what the Russians are doing in Syria,

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  45. shukla ji doing the job of exposing India..nice job!

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  46. So your virulent attacks on Gen Vipin Rawat and Indian Army is part of the plan and a piece in the series off attacks by Manishankar Ayar, Parth Bhattacharya, Brinda and Prakash Karat and finally that uncouth loudmouth Dikshit. Your readers must connect these pieces together and see how the Bhakts of Mao, Stalin, Trotsky, Lin Bio and other mass murderers are pontificating on ethics in counter-insurgency, that too Pak sponsored proxy war. Your Paki loving Hurriyat group and sponsored cpcktail circuit is at their best ahain - to bring downfall of Modi via Islamabad and Kashmir. You are stooping too low. It is strange you being part of that "Bharat Li Barbadi" type ultras. Perhaps that is " Mechanized Warfare " !!

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  47. Shoot at the site this order should be given by the chief of Force and all problem will be solved.


    Tees for women

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  48. Any one can be a idealistic gentleman under idealistic situation. If the situation is not ideal then being a gentleman is of no use. As every one knows War is where every rules are broken. what is the use of being a gentleman before a rabid Jihadi who does not adhere to any principles, who is staunch in his beliefs, For whom every other is Kafir or apostale and needs to be killed, he who does not show minimum Courtesy to woman just enslave them, f**k them, sell them. who teaches the diabolic theory dharum harab & dharul islam to survive and annihilate. This level of idealism is horrendous befoolment of oneself.

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  49. "It testifies to the resilience of Indian public debate that..."
    Ajai, you sound like you're looking over your shoulder for a pat on your back from some videshi audience. Stop being so defensive please.

    You were once a soldier, now a soldier with a pen.

    There is no being defensive about what Maj Gogoi did. He is on the good side - India in J&K is the good side, has always been, will always be. What makes his actions so rare and glowing is his intellect in being able to defuse a very very dangerous situation.

    Ajai, you need to stop being a dhimmi and being so defensive about India and Indians!

    ReplyDelete
  50. @Alok Ashana

    So you too have problem with anonymity but not the content !! Your comment does start with " The act of Maj Gogoi was clearly wrong." the rest follows to link up Gogoi and COAS with BJP ... so your problem is with BJP. Is not that right?? I read your comment again as ordered and it would be in order to request you do it yourself now... One more aspect - how are you so sure that Gen Bakshi or Gen Haris would have done something very different and brought about a sure shot downfall of Modi which you do not seem to like .....????? Are you so sure they were Madam's protegees??

    Shame again ....

    ReplyDelete
  51. Absolutely, Mr Anonymous. I'm not comfortable with a man who won't reveal his name but post on public forums. Ashamed that your well wishers and family will get to see the real you? If so, don't do these shameful things. No face, no credibility. Really wonder why the moderator even allows this form of posting.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Alok Asthana, you have good information on the entire line of communication within Government and Army, when, where and how things are moving in the corridors of power.

    ReplyDelete
  53. @anonymous 20 June 2017 at 16:10 .... this is the lowest one can dive. Failing to dive from a jump board is not cowardice but merely a fear of height which is made to be overcome by training but this kind of moral dive you have taken is a big "NO".... and there is absolutely no connection between the Generals late General father, Uttarakhand CM and Gen Khanduri . That was throwing a stone in darkness which lowly scums like you can only do. That is certainly not acceptable.

    ReplyDelete

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