Seven blunders that will
haunt India for posterity, Major General Mrinal Suman
History is most unforgiving. As historical
mistakes cannot be undone, they have complex cascading effect on a nation’s
future. Here is a saga of seven historical blunders that have changed the
course of independent India’s history and cast a dark shadow over its future.
These costly mistakes will continue to haunt India for generations. They have
been recounted here in a chronological order with a view to highlight
inadequacies of India’s decision making apparatus and leadership’s incompetence to
act with vision.
The Kashmir Mess
There can be no better example of shooting in
one’s own foot than India’s clumsy handling of the Kashmir issue. It is a saga
of naivety, blinkered vision and inept leadership. Hari Singh was the reigning
monarch of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. He was vacillating when
tribal marauders invaded Kashmir in October 1947, duly backed by the Pakistan
army. Unable to counter them, Hari Singh appealed to India for assistance and
agreed to accede to India. Indian forces blunted the invasion and re-conquered
vast areas.
First, India erred by
not insisting on unequivocal accession of the state to the Dominion of India
and granted special status to it through Article 370 of the Constitution.
Secondly, when on the verge of evicting all invaders and recapturing the
complete state, India halted operations on 1 January 1949 and appealed to the
Security Council. It is the only case in known history wherein a country, when
on the threshold of complete
victory, has voluntarily forsaken it in the misplaced hope of winning
admiration of the world community. Thirdly and most shockingly, the Indian
leadership made a highly unconstitutional offer of plebiscite in the UN.
Forty percent area of the state continues to be under Pakistan’s
control, providing it a strategic land route to China through the Karakoram
ranges. As a fall out of the unresolved dispute, India and Pakistan have fought
numerous wars and skirmishes with no solution in sight. Worse, the local
politicians are holding India to ransom by playing the Pak card. Kashmir issue
is a self - created cancerous furuncle that defies all medications and
continues to bleed the country.
2/ Ignoring Chinese Threats and Neglect of the Military
Memories of the year 1962 will always trouble
the Indian psyche. A nation of India’s size had lulled itself into believing
that its protestations and platitudes of peaceful co-existence would be
reciprocated by the world. It was often stated that a peace loving nation like
India did not need military at all. The armed forces were neglected. Political
leadership took pride in denigrating the military leadership and meddled in internal affairs of the services to
promote sycophancy. Foreign policy was in shambles. Intelligence apparatus was
rusted.
Even though signs of China’s aggressive
intentions were clearly discernible for years in advance, Indian leadership
decided to keep its eyes shut in the fond hope that the problem would resolve
itself. When China struck, the country was caught totally unprepared. Troops
were rushed to snowbound areas with summer clothing and outdated rifles.
Despite numerous sagas of gallantry, the country suffered terrible
embarrassment. India was on its knees. With national morale and pride in
tatters, India was forced to appeal to all nations for military aid. Inept and
incompetent leadership had forced a proud nation to find solace in Lata
Mangeshkar’s ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo’.
3/ The Tashkent Agreement and Return of Haji Pir Pass
Following the cease-fire
after the Indo-Pak War of 1965, a Russian sponsored agreement was signed
between India and Pakistan in Tashkent on 10 January 1966. Under the agreement,
India agreed to return the strategic Haji Pir pass to Pakistan which it had
captured in August 1965 against heavy odds and at a huge human cost. The pass
connects Poonch and Uri sectors in Jammu and Kashmir and reduces the distance
between the two sectors to 15 km whereas
the alternate route entails a travel of over 200 km. India got nothing in
return except an undertaking by Pakistan to abjure war, an undertaking which
meant little as Pakistan never had any intention of honouring it.
Return of the vital Haji Pir pass was a mistake of monumental
proportions for which India is suffering to date. In addition to denying a
direct link between Poonch and Uri sectors, the pass is being effectively used
by Pakistan to sponsor infiltration of terrorists into India. Inability to
resist Russian pressure was a manifestation of the boneless Indian foreign
policy and shortsighted leadership.
4. The Simla Agreement
With the fall of Dhaka on 16 December 1971, India
had scored a decisive victory over Pakistan. Over 96,000 Pak soldiers were
taken Prisoners of War (PoWs). Later, an agreement was signed between the two
countries on 2 July 1972 at Shimla. Both countries agreed to exchange all PoWs,
respect the line of control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir and refrain from the use
of threat or force. Additionally, Bhutto gave a solemn verbal undertaking to
accept LOC as the de facto border.
India released all Pak PoWs in good faith.
Pakistan, on the other hand, released only 617 Indian PoWs while holding back
54 PoWs who are still languishing in Pakistani jails. The Indian Government has
admitted this fact a number of times but has failed to secure their release.
India failed to use the leverage of 96,000 Pak PoWs to discipline Pakistan. A
rare opportunity was thus wasted. What to talk of establishing permanent peace
in the sub-continent, India failed to ensure release of all Indian PoWs –
a criminal omission by all accounts.
Naivety of the Indian delegation can be seen from the fact that it allowed Pakistan to bluff its way through at Shimla. The Indian leadership was fooled into believing Pakistan’s sincerity. Unquestionably, Pakistan never intended to abide by its promises, both written and verbal. Fruits of a hard fought victory in the battlefield were frittered away on a negotiating table by bungling leadership.
5. The Nuclear Muddle
Subsequent to the Chinese
Nuclear Test at Lop Nor in 1964, India showed rare courage in carrying out its
first nuclear test on 18 May 1974 at Pokharan. Outside the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council, India was the only nation to prove its
nuclear capability. The whole country was ecstatic and every Indian felt proud
of its scientific prowess. But Indians had not contended with their
Government’s penchant for converting opportunity into adversity and squandering hard earned gains.
Instead of asserting
India’s newly acquired status of a nuclear power and demanding recognition,
India turned apologetic and tried to convince the world that it had no nuclear
ambitions. Strangely, it termed the Pokharan test as a ‘peaceful nuclear
explosion’ – a term unheard of till then. The Defence Minister went to the
extent of claiming that the Indian nuclear experiment was “only for mining, oil
and gas prospecting, for finding underground sources of water, for diverting
rivers, rivers, for scientific and
technological knowledge.” It was a self-deprecating stance. Displaying acute
inferiority complex, India did not want to be counted as a member of the
exclusive nuclear club.
Criticism and sanctions were expected and must
have been factored in before opting for the nuclear test. Whereas a few more
assertive follow-on tests would have forced the world to accept India as a
member of the nuclear club, India went into an overdrive to placate the world
through a self imposed moratorium on further testing. It lost out
on all the advantages provided to it by its scientists. It suffered sanctions
and yet failed to gain recognition as a nuclear power. The country missed
golden opportunities due to the timidity and spinelessness of its
leaders.
6. Kandahar Hijack
Hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar by Pakistani
terrorists in December 1999 will continue to rile India’s self-respect for
long. According to the Hindustan Times, India lost face and got reduced to
begging for co-operation from the very regimes that were actively undermining
its internal security. The hijacking revealed how ill-prepared India was to
face up to the challenges of international terrorism.
The eight day long ordeal was over when India’s National Security Adviser brazenly announced that an agreement had been reached for the release of all the hostages in exchange for three Kashmiri militants including Maulana Masood Azhar. Sadly, the Prime Minister claimed credit for forcing the hijackers to climb down on their demands. The worst was yet to follow. India’s Foreign Minister decided to accompany the released militants to Kandahar, as if seeing off honoured guests.
Government’s poor crisis-management skills and extreme
complacency in security matters allowed the hijackers to take off from Amritsar
airport after 39 minutes halt for refueling, thereby letting the problem get
out of control. India’s much vaunted decision making apparatus collapsed and
was completely paralysed by the audacity of a bunch of motivated fanatics. It
was a comprehensive failure of monumental proportions. India’s slack and
amateurish functioning made the country earn the tag of a soft nation which it
will find very difficult to shed.
7. Illegal Immigration and Passage of IMDT Act
It is a standard
practice all over the world that the burden of proving one’s status as a
bonafide citizen of a country falls on the accused. It is so for India as well
under Foreigners Act, 1946. Political expediency forced the Government to make
an exception for Assam. In one of the most short-sighted and anti-national
moves, India passed Illegal Migrants – Determination by Tribunals (IMDT) Act of
1984 for Assam. It shifted
the onus of proving illegal status of a suspected immigrant to the accuser,
which was a tall and virtually impossible order. Detection and deportation of
illegal immigrants became impossible.
Whenever demands were raised for repealing the
Act, Congress, Left Front and United Minorities Front resisted strongly.
Illegal immigrants had become the most loyal vote bank of the Congress. Worse,
every protest against the Act was dubbed as ‘anti-minority’, thereby imparting
communal colour to an issue of national security. Government’s ‘pardon’ of all
Bangladeshis who had come in before 1985 was another unconstitutional act that
aggravated the problem.
The Act was struck down as unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court on July 13, 2005, more than 20 years after its enactment. The
Apex Court was of the view that the influx of Bangladeshi nationals into Assam
posed a threat to the integrity and security of northeastern region.
Unfortunately immense damage had already been done to the demography of Assam
and the local people of Assam had been reduced to minority status in certain
districts. Illegal immigrants have come to have a stranglehold over electioneering
to the extent that no party can hope to come to power without their support.
Nearly 30 Islamic groups are thriving in the area to further their Islamist and
Pan Bangla Desh agenda. It is incomprehensible that a nation’s leadership can
stoop so low and endanger even national security for garnering votes.
Finally, is India Wiser Today?
Two features are common
to all the above mentioned blunders. First, all decisions were taken by the
political leadership and the bureaucracy. The military leadership was neither
taken into confidence nor consulted. As a matter of fact it was deliberately kept
out of the decision making loop. Although military is the primary stake holder
in India’s nuclear prowess, it was not considered necessary to take it in confidence while taking
decisions of strategic proportions.
Both Tashkant and Shimla Agreements were preceded
by bitterly fought wars. They entailed negotiating the extent, scope and
modalities of withdrawal from occupied areas. Even then, no need was felt to
seek military’s advice and no service officer was included in the Indian
delegations. Political leaders and the bureaucracy abrogated the right to
negotiate military matters, in the egoistic belief that they were more
qualified for the task. The results were disastrous, as mentioned
above.
The second common feature is that no political
leader or bureaucrat was ever held accountable for monumental blunders made by
them. On the contrary, every single bureaucrat made it to the higher grades and
was even given lucrative post-retirement appointments. It is an obnoxious sight
to see the guilty men of the above blunders masquerading as foreign policy
experts on TV shows and unabashedly offering their pearls of wisdom.
The above mentioned seven indefensible blunders
have had enormous impact on the security, standing and history of India. Future
generations will rue the fact that the Indian leadership failed the nation at
critical junctures due to incompetence, ineptitude and selfish interests.
Proclivity for perpetuating personal power made the leadership shortsighted and
egocentric. But for the historical blunders, the current Indian geo-political
scenario would have been totally different.
Has India learnt any lesson? Unfortunately, none whatsoever. Even now, military leadership is consciously and willfully kept out of all decision making apparatus. Even issues that affect security of the nation are decided by the bureaucrats who do not possess even elementary knowledge of military matters. It is only in India that well connected retired bureaucrats are offered membership of the National Security Council (NSC) as a rehabilitation measure. Merit and expertise are of little consequence. Further, India is perhaps the only country in the world wherein NSC does not have a single military member. Bureaucrats and ex-police officers have made NSC their exclusive domain, thereby depriving the nation of expert military advice. Resultantly, recurring blunders will continue to cost the country dear.
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