Daily Times

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. (Napoleon Bonaparte)

Perhaps we should not fear Indian Army as much as their newsprint and electronic media that has become a metaphor for jingoism and sabre rattling of a worst kind. The complete abdication of reason and responsibility by the media of the largest democracy or shall one say the largest Kakistocracy of the world smacks of a lemming like death wish by the war mongering tribe in Indian news rooms. Totally shorn of reason, a state pillar that is supposed to reflect the light of reason and realism is living out a burlesque dream of vengeance and visceral hatred, much like the Daenerys Targaryen’s quest for revenge in the world renowned TV series “The Game of Thrones”. A revenge that brooks no battle mercies and ravages everything through the fire spewing dragons has its comeuppance in the last episode of the series that showcased both the sanguinity and the futility of war.

Those in Indian media who are egging on the Indian Army or perhaps are being egged on by the Indian Army and its political principals are doing no service to the false yet painstakingly cultivated image of a pacifist Hindu India. The cheerleaders of Hindutva who are baying for the blood of Kashmiris and Pakistani troops, in a seamless narrative of hatred need to see the last few scenes of that epic drama of love and war called Game of Thrones. In the last act of the drama series the favourite Dragon son of the hate machine Daenerys Targaryen, refuses to exact the fiery revenge for its mother, choosing instead to melt the root of the conflict i.e Iron Throne in place of the killer of his mother. The last act of the much feared weapon of war i.e the Dragon was a repudiation of violence, realizing the futility of war.

Perhaps the “Army of the Unsullied” in India that has been castrated of reason lately, would soon see the light of reason and jettison the visceral baggage of hate that it has been saddled with through its Hundutva drunk government and an equally war inebriated media. Not much luck lately however, as a fortuitous concatenation of events has made the Indian Army violate the basic norms of military subordination to the civilian leadership. Bipin Rawat the current Chief of the Indian army we are told is a man on a mission. Only this time the mission is less patriotic and more personal. He is eying a prized top slot of Chief of the Defence Staff that the Modi Government has dangled as a carrot in front of him to advance their electoral prospects. The CDS’ appointment was recommended as an operational necessity by the Subramanyum led Kargil Review Committee in 1999. General Bipin Rawat who has sedulously lobbied for the top post that would bring the three services under his control besides adding three more years to his service is therefore desperate to curry favour with his political bosses for a swing at the title.

The upshot of his ambition is his recent statements in which he has cast aspersions on Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan as territories in control of militants. Now in any other democratic country such a statement would have resulted in a strong censure of the military chief as such statements are normally the bailiwicks of the foreign office or any other civilian government official. No such adherence to constitutional proprieties in Modi’s India however where it seems a carte blanche has been given to the land component of the armed forces to vitiate the inter-state relations through such accusatory fulminations. Rogue armies normally resort to such incendiary rhetoric in countries where the civilian control over the armed forces is minimal. Here is the chief of the second largest (World Atlas Report) army of the world, armed with nukes, pointing accusatory fingers at an adversary on a hair trigger alert. If this is not a rogue act what else would qualify to be one?

In India long after the Nehruvian fidelity to liberal internationalism has been replaced by exclusionary Hindu nationalism, the political vacuum at least in foreign and defence affairs, is being filled by a rogue army on a long leash as a recompense for its brutalities in the service of its political pay masters

There is a very interesting pattern in the Indian Army’s cross LOC artillery shelling; mostly targeting the innocent civilian people who normally visit their meadows and grazing pastures in keeping with their centuries old agricultural practices. The Indian army’s unprovoked heavy artillery shelling last week in Jura and Shahkot sectors of Neelum Valley was on a well coordinated cue from the electorally challenged BJP government that wanted to showcase a “false surgical strike” across LOC to shore up its electoral prospects. The Legislative Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana were held on 21st October 2019 to the accompaniment of barbaric Indian Artillery bombardment of the AJ&K villages close to LOC. The act was in keeping with the pattern of targeting the civilian population in Indian Held Kashmir whenever a need to ratchet up the primeval nationalistic instincts arise. The pusillanimous act was punished through Pakistan’s effective counter artillery bombardment taking out the Indian bunkers spewing fire on the defenceless civilians.

That the Indian media channels make no attempt to sift out the facts from the officially sanctioned truth by the Indian Army is a testament to the rabid Hindutva nationalism that has taken hold of the Indian media. A tour to the affected bombed out areas on LOC was arranged promptly by the Pakistan Army for the diplomats and media whereas on Indian side there was complete blackout. The hubris born out of the international unaccountability as a consequence of Indian encouragement by the world powers is pushing the sub-continent towards a nuclear holocaust. If ever there was any doubt about the Indian Army’s intentions and immaturity it was removed by the statement of Indian Army Chief General Bapin Rawat who in his attempt to earn few brownie points from his civilian principals clearly crossed the rubicon of political control.

Samuel finer in his classic book, “The Man on the Horseback” explicates the issue of civil-military relations in developing nations where the civilian democratic control is weak with disorganized civilian political institutions. In such countries where the military component of the state is more organized and cohesive the political vacuum is filled by the armed forces. In India long after the Nehruvian fidelity to liberal internationalism has been replaced by exclusionary Hindu nationalism, the political vacuum at least in foreign and defence affairs, is being filled by a rogue army on a long leash as a recompense for its brutalities in the service of its political pay masters. By acting capriciously it is endangering the regional peace. Personal ambition and rabid Hindutva nationalism have mixed into a toxic cocktail being imbibed by a rogue Indian Army sitting atop a nuclear stockpile. How dangerous is this rogueness only the world can guess.

The writer is a PhD scholar at NUST