Poonch pooh pooh

This operation is symbolic of an unlearning nature of the Indian army. Unfortunately, nothing will change even now.

The operations against terrorists in the Mendhar forest against militants got over with an egg on the face of the Indian Army. One JCO and one soldier was killed with the weapon of the JCO sieged by the militants. Neither a single militant was captured nor was a dead body found in the area.

Best of the armies encounter failures but the really great ones draw the right lessons from those experiences. An experience of over four decades in counterinsurgency in the North East, nearly two decades fighting Islamist insurgents in Kashmir and more specifically, a similar experience with Mast Gul and gang at Charar-e-Sharif 13 years back should have prepared the army better to handle such situations.

The reactions to this incident will be the most obvious. The army will try its level best to find some scapegoats — sack the Brigade Commander, crucify the local battalion commander and full stop. Things will get back to the usual after that pretty soon. The prevalent culture in the services will not allow any in-depth study of the incident, quick dissemination of the lessons to other units in COIN operations, introduction of new tactics and induction of latest equipment or weaponry to prevent such incidents in the future. The unintended message to junior and middle ranking officers from all this is to follow the proverbial eleventh commandment — Thou shall not get caught.

If the internal mechanisms in the army are failing, then the external entities are doing no better. The highly voluble veterans community which was so strident on the pay commission issue will not even point out this weakness of the Indian army. The ignoramuses in the mainstream media, will continue to treat army like a holy cow and brush this incident under the carpet.

This downhill slide of a professional force, which is hell-bent on drawing its strength solely from the past and is blithely unconcerned about its future, will continue till a military tragedy of calamitous proportions strikes the nation. Then there will be many queuing up to lambast the defence services. By then it will be too late for constructive criticism, one that seeks constant improvement and betterment of the Indian Army.