Treat the Armed forces with the respect they deserve

ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE ARMED FORCES.

Let us first understand some vital assumptions about the country’s armed forces with special reference to Bharat.
 
The most important assumption is that the civilian authority, that is superior to them, the Supreme Commander, the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet of ministers must be as loyal to the armed forces as the latter are expected to be loyal to the former.
 
A demoralised rotten undisciplined army under supremely honest, efficient and patriotic civilian authority is as much of bad luck as the most efficient fighting machine (armed forces) under a dishonest, treacherous and corrupt civilian authority.
 
Another important assumption is that Armed Forces take Oath of Loyalty to country, not to a political party or any leader.
 
They are defenders of TERRITORY, not of DYNASTY. They are meant to defend the NATIVES against the FOREIGNERS. They are not to defend the foreigner against the natives.
 
They are supposed to guard frontiers from EXTERNAL threats while the police and the other security forces are meant to defend LIVES and PROPERTY of citizens within the country.
 
To capture North Kashmir, said to be the ‘integral’ part of Bharat, is the ‘eternally’ pending task of the Indian armed forces but they cannot advance an inch due to weak, dishonest, corrupt and cowardly Government of India. In this case the government is weak, not the armed forces.
 
While to control the civilian unrest in the Valley is the job of the police, to secure the borders against infiltration in the West as well in the East is the job of the Army. In real life India is in criminal default on all these counts and her government has so far got away even with ‘Hindu bashing & corruption’ while the masses are brainwashed and/or intimidated to be slaves & servile, to ‘tow the baboos line’ and even to call their stone-hearted callous & corrupt rulers ‘Sarkar Maai Baap!’
 
The top Indian leaders who were supposed to be “fighting” for Independence (Akhand Bharat) but returned crest fallen with humiliating Partition, had not only to defend Akhand Bharat but also to change the mass (slavish) mentality that has remained “frozen” for one thousand years. (See illustration below).
 
The second assumption is that there is nothing more demoralizing, even insulting and degrading for the army than to cease fire in the middle of fighting (Kashmir, 1948), and worse still, to give up territory they captured from the enemy at great cost (East Bengal, 1972). Gallant and brave armed forces cannot be belittled, fooled or mocked in this way.
 
The third assumption is that the members of armed forces will not have to struggle or agitate for their own welfare, pay & allowances, service conditions and the well-being of their families. They live on PRIDE, DIGNITY & RESPECT.
 
Theirs are no fixed working hours and guaranteed annual holidays. Theirs is the only vocation where one is expected to sacrifice even LIFE in the course of duty. Therefore, it is humiliating for a proud man in uniform, or an ex serviceman, to beg and pray for concessions and to go on strike or to sit fasting in public to make a protest.
 
For some time now the frustrated exservicemen and women in India have been returning their gallantry and service medals to the Supreme Commander who thinks below her dignity to come out to listen to their complaint in person.
 
Does the Supreme Commander, Mrs. Pratibha Patil, living in the former Viceroy’s Imperial Palace, wish to be unapproachable like the Viceroy or Emperor Aurangzeb? As a decent woman she could make a patriotic gesture in solidarity with the poor masses of her country to move out to a more modest mansion and thus show respect to the “Father of Nation”, MK Gandhi who, after all, lived in “Bhangi Colony”.
 
The country, where the soldiers or their top generals, are seen humbled, humiliated & degraded in this way, is encouraging the enemy, both within and without, to strike.
 
It is inviting civil unrest, civil war, revolution, even military take-over or it will suffer defeat in war, resulting in everlasting slavery after that. The debacle of 1962 (rout in NEFA and AKSAI CHIN) ought to have opened the nation’s eyes if the political leaders and the “baboos” are determined to keep theirs shut.
 
Under such political set up as we see in Bharat the national armed forces are at extreme peril. The brave “jawans” and generals can be most easily betrayed, defeated, even captured (like the 90,000 Pakistanis) and destroyed.
 
Sleepy Hindusthan (minus a limb or two) with the national motto “Array Yaar Sab Chalta Hai!” and with Italian born Sonia guiding the Prime Minister, are light years away from those UNITED countries (UK and the USA) whose motto is “Price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
 
 

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