The recent controversy regarding the role of the former Army chief General VK Singh in setting up a secret military intelligence unit purportedly to overthrow the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir has caught the imagination of the nation. This only seems to be the latest episode in a long standing war between the government and the former Army chief, who had stirred the hornet’s nest with the age row controversy while he was in office. This latest inquiry report that alleges wrongdoing on the part of Gen.VK Singh has been termed by some sections as a manifestation of vendetta politics, as the former Army chief was seen to be supporting a certain opposition party.
However the truth needs to be probed into in an independent and impartial manner. This recent sparring between the former Army chief and the government has raised a few disturbing yet pertinent questions. What will be the impact of this controversy on civil-military relations, as well as centre-state relations in India? Is the Army overstepping its jurisdiction in intelligence matters by undertaking covert operations on foreign soil? Are special intelligence agencies being set up to settle personal scores within the Army? Has this incident helped our enemies, which entail both state and non-state actors, to gain vital information about our security operations?
At the heart of this raging controversy is the Technical Support Division (TSD), a secret military intelligence unit set up by Gen. VK Singh when he was the chief of Army staff. An inquiry report prepared by the present Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia, has claimed that Rs 1.19 crore was given to Ghulam Hasan Mir, Agriculture Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, to overthrow the Omar Abdullah government. The report also claimed that
Rs 2.38 crore was given to Hakikat Singh who set up an NGO called ‘Jammu and Kashmir Humanitarian Service Organisation’ that was in turn linked to ‘Yes Kashmir’, which filed a PIL against Army chief Gen. Bikram Singh in an alleged fake encounter case when he was a brigadier. One of the most sensational claims in the report is that the TSD carried out eight specific covert operations in a foreign country.
These are very serious allegations indeed. Why should the Army chief be paying a state minister money so as to topple a democratically elected government? While General VK Singh has rejected this claim, he has not denied that the TSD did pay Ghulam Mir money to further ‘nationalist’ causes. The former Army chief stated that this was the ‘norm’ and the Army has been paying Kashmiri politicians for a long time to unify all sections of the state.
Does this entail destabilizing democratically elected governments as well? Was the Army chief acting alone or was he doing the bidding of some higher ups in the central government? These are very disturbing questions as it will have an adverse impact on civil-military relations in India and also on centre-state relations if certain allegations are proved. The scenario of a serving Army chief trying to topple an elected state government should alarm all the citizens who cherish and embrace the virtues of a democratic polity.
The other allegation that money had been payed to an NGO that was in turn linked to ‘Yes Kashmir’, which had filed a PIL against the present Army chief General Bikram Singh on an alleged fake encounter in Kashmir when he was a brigadier, is also very disquieting. Was this an attempt to block the succession path of Bikram Singh, an attempt to prevent him from becoming the next Army chief ? This would mean that state funds were utilized by intelligence agencies to settle private and personal scores within the Army. This would be a high crime if this were proven to be true. It would also besmirch the honourable legacy of the Indian Army.
The claim that the TSD has carried out at least eight successful covert operations in a foreign country is also rather unsettling. What is the Military Intelligence (MI) doing in foreign countries? This is clearly a role designated to other intelligence agencies like the R&AW. The Army would be clearly overstepping its jurisdiction here. There should not be an overlapping on such issues without a clear unity of command.
Only an inquiry by an independent committee consisting of individuals of unimpeachable integrity will reveal the truth. Apart from the tragic spectacle of a former Army chief and the government casting aspersions on each other, these allegations have a huge bearing on our national security and the citizens need to know what really transpired. Many of these allegations will weaken us as a nation if they are proven true. Let us hope that the truth comes out at the earliest and the nation recovers from this setback
