Can the Indian Army not be questioned for evidence of surgical strikes? The Indian government’s intentional politicisa- tion of the issue is an affront to India's democratic values.
By Ashok Swain ASHOK SWAIN @ashoswai
In Indian democracy, a citizen has a right to know what the military does and the Army needs to be transparent. In this hyper-information era, it is almost impossible to hide facts from the public domain for long. The intentional manufacturing of confusion by the government helps it to trap the Opposition into a patriot versus "Pakistani binary. It is important to win the perception battle than with arms and ammunition. Being honest about its operational successes and failures and maintaining transparency creates a pos- itive image for the Army to take an upper hand in this context. However, the majority in military leadership in India usually suffers from a Brahminical mindset and tends to believe that they are the only ones qualified to evaluate their engage- ments and have no need to answer the common man. Thus they tend to consider public accountability as an unnecessary errand and public debate as useless distraction. That comes out clearly when someone listens to many retired generals in TV debates. The Army cannot expect that everything they do or claim to do should be glorified without any ques-
information - absolute trust in the Army is a must, anyone who questions the Army is anti-national. It is a matter of grave concern that in Indian democracy, it has become taboo to ask pertinent questions to the armed forces even on vital matters of national interest. Even in Pakistan, there is no such blanket branding of Army critics. This ultra-nationalistic position in India by the ruling party and a section of the media puts a ques- tion mark on the state of Indian democracy. To respect democratic principles and fundamental rights, all state insti- tutions in India including the Army need to stay under democratic control. Unlike Pakistan, the control of the armed forces in India thankfully remains in the hands of democratically elected civilian authorities. Democracy is difficult to imagine in the absence of civilian primacy over the military. However, the democratic accountability of the armed forces is not only limited to parliamentary con- trol, it also includes being answerable to public opinion, media and society in general. Civilian audit of the military is one of the cornerstones of democracy. It is essential to maintaining the account- ability of armed forces' personnel to the people, and that legitimises their role and power both at home and abroad. Thus, the Indian Army for its own credibility should appreciate pub- lic debate over its actions and effec- tiveness.
On September 29, the Indian mili- tary came out in the open about its sur- gical strikes on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir, assert- ing that it inflicted "significant casual- ties" on militants waiting to infiltrate. Pakistan's military immediately denied that any such strike occurred, but at the same time admitted its two soldiers were killed. Considering the previous track record, it was expected that no one outside Pakistan would take the Pakistan Army's denial seri- ously. However, for a week now, Pakistan has mounted an international effort to disprove the Indian Army's claim. The refusal of the Indian gov- ernment to share evidence and con- flicting claims over the scale of its strike by some ministers have helped Pakistan convince a large and influen- tial section of the international media to buy its story. The Indian government's decision to openly claim the success of this "surgical strike", and to use it for polit- ical purposes, had unnerved the Opposition. However, probing inter- national media reports and refusal of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on the strikes have encouraged some key opposition leaders and political com- mentators in the last two days to ask the government to come out clean. Instead of providing some evi- dence to put the record straight, the BJP has decided to use its favourite "anti-national" attack mode against the opposition voices asking for more
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Open House Special 2016
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