Now Gen Malik in thick soup as India’s AFT takes up Kargil war issues:Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal

Gen Malik in thick soup as India’s AFT takes up
Kargil war issues
—Former Indian Army Chief General VP Malik to get tough time
as his actions set to come under fire —Brigadier Devinder Singh
moves AFT against General Malik’s action during and after
Kargil conflict —A Major of Indian army also amongst the
challengers in the case—A financial scam case also awaits General
Malik at Delhi High Court.
From Pramjeet Kaur
Chandigarh (India)—While it has been more than ten years after
the war between India and Pakistan was fought in Kargil and the
ensuing controversies, the issues that had then embroiled the
Indian government and the Indian Army top brass, have
re-emerged into the public domain and are set to create new
revelations and controversies for the Indian political and military
leaderships with special focus on the wrongdoings of the then
Indian Army Chief, General VP Malik, reveal the investigations of
The Daily Mail The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that after being in
the Delhi High Court for years, the legal cases filed by some officers
of the Indian Army, who felt aggrieved by the wrongful actions of
the then Indian Army Chief general VP Malik and the military
establishment vis-à-vis their role in the conflict, are now, finally
before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) for public hearing.The
Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that these would be the first cases
associated with a cross-border conflict and those dealing with the
conduct of military operations and the role of commanders in a war
situation, to come up before the AFT. This could raise some
jurisdictional, administrative and legal issues. Three of the officers
whose cases are listed to come up for hearing before the AFT’s
Principal Bench, comprising Justice AK Mathur and Lt Gen ML
Naidu (retd), are from Chandigarh.The Daily Mail’s findings further
indicate that Brig Devinder Singh, the then commander of the 70
Infantry Brigade of the Indian army at Batalik which had played a
key role in the conflict, had alleged fabrication of the After Action
Reports by the senior commanders. He has contended that four of
his most successful battalions were falsely shown under the command
of the then Deputy General Officer of the 3 Infantry Division, which
reflected a lop-sided picture of his command.He claimed that senior
commanders attempted to involve him in a blame game over the Kargil
intrusions by fudging records and forwarding incorrect inputs to the
Kargil Review Committee.The then commander of the 121 (I) Brigade
in Kargil, who was removed from service, is contending that he had
apprised higher authorities of the intrusions, but instead of taking
him seriously, he was made a scapegoat.The matter had come up
before the AFT and is now fixed for hearing during this month.
Contending his removal and related actions against him by the Army
as illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction, he has demanded
reinstatement, consequential benefits and damages, besides calling
for an independent investigation into the circumstances that led to
the conflict. The Daily Mail’s findings reveal that a Major of the
Indian Army, who was tried and convicted by a general court martial
at Chandigarh for disobedience of lawful command during the conflict,
has also challenged his trial and the case is also before the AFT. He
has filed an additional suit demanding independent investigations
into the Kargil episode.The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that after
the Kargil conflict was over, the Army Headquarters at New Delhi,
that were stormed by controversies and massive criticism, not only for
the debacle at the war front but also for the massive financial wrong
doings in the direction of procurements by army, directed all the
commanders of the Kargil front to immediately submit citations for
the bravery of the soldiers so that the pressure from the political
circles could be minimized nonetheless to boost up the morale of the
demoralized troops. These findings indicate that in the hasty
compliance of strong orders from the headquarters, the commanders
at Kargil made a variety of blunders and submitted many fake
citations with the recommendations of top military awards including
the highest and the most prestigious PVC award. The Daily Mail’s
findings reveal that the wrong citations started surfacing soon and
the biggest blunder in this regard emerged when the farcical episode
of PVC recipient Grenadier Yoginder Singh Yadave began to unveiled
as Yoginder was found hiding at a military hospital in New Delhi while,
following the fake citations of his commanders, the government of
Indian awarded him with the posthumous (after death) PVC award.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that Indian army leadership
was put on a flashing burner by the opposition parties in the
parliament not only for outrageous display of combat at Kargil but
also for huge financial wrongdoings in procurements, during the
conflict. These findings indicate that after pointing out glaring lapses
and improprieties in purchase of specialised mountain warfare
equipment for the Kargil war, the Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) of India had said that even non high-altitude weaponry deals
were pushed through by the Defence Ministry in the name of
Operation Vijay. “Though deployment of T-72 tanks was not possible
at high altitude,” the defence ministry had used the pretext of
Operation Vijay and the relaxation of procedures to push through a
deal worth $27.17 million in July, 1999 for delivery of 2800 rounds of
T-72 ammunition from Israel and another 7000 rounds within six
months, the CAG said in its report tabled in the Indian Parliament .
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that T-72 ammunition was not
the sole case of ‘non-emergent requirement’ pushed through as another
glaring example was the import of 644 items of spares for combat
engineers tractors from the Royal Ordinance, United Kingdom in
January, 2000 at an estimated cost of 439,810.33 pounds sterling.
Saying that out of 644 items, 475 spares were only bin items, the CAG
had stated that the deal was gone through without reviewing the j
ustification for bin samples for spares included in the contract, even
though these combat tractors were due to be phased out by 2003.
“Thus even unnecessary and non-emergent requirements were pushed
through Operation Vijay procurement,” the CAG said in its report.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate the CAG had pointed out that the
deal went through even though sufficient funds were not available
under the relevant head for purchase of ammunition adding that
relaxed procedure for Kargil operations were used to push through
the deal. The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that the CAG also
referred to another case of projected requirement of 20 short-range
additional radars, citing urgent needs for Operation Vijay, which
‘appeared imprudent’. It said the army, citing urgent requirements
for Kargil operations, projected an immediate induction of 20 radars
in July, 1999 and the ministry called for quotations in September
20, 1999 with a delivery schedule of six to eight weeks. “A higher unit
price of $112,500 dollars was quoted by the same company for a
shorter delivery period. The offer was accepted and the contract
worth $2.3 million concluded,” the report said.The Daily Mail’s
findings indicate that such allegations of financial embezzlements
under the grab of combating a war with Pakistan and the accusations
of below average performance by the troops rang alarm bells at the
Military Headquarters in New Delhi and the top brass started taking
all the measures for face saving and the hurriedly invited citations
from the field commanders was the top step, taken under extreme
pressure. These findings indicate that the first major baseless citation
in this direction that hit the headlines of the media across the world
was that of Grenadier Yoginder Singh Yadave of the Gathak platoon
of the Indian army. Yadave was awarded with Posthumous Param Vir
Chakra in the light of the citations of his commanders for fighting
with extraordinary bravery at Kargil front. However the international
media, soon after the announcement of the award, discovered that the
“brave martyred”, recipient of posthumous PVC award was not only
alive, but was hiding, was actually an absconder who ran away from
the war front by hiding himself under the bodies of some dead and
critically injured fellow soldiers and managed to make it to a local
field military hospital and from there, he managed to make it further
to the main military medical facility at New Delhi with fake
identification. His actual whereabouts surfaced when local and
international media spotted him to be present, and present very
much alive after the Indian government awarded him with the
posthumous PVC award, causing great humiliation and immense
embarrassment to both the Indian government and Indian Army.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that in a bid to overcome this
outrageous blunder, the Indian Army begun a high-level inquiry into
the “unpardonable mistake” of declaring one of the Param Vir
Chakra winners, Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav, dead, though he
was actually an absconder and hiding in an army hospital in New
Delhi. Senior army officers said it was at the Srinagar headquarters
of the 15 Corps or Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur
that the goof up happened. These findings further indicate that the
then Indian Army Chief General V.P Malik tendered an apology,
while the Defence Ministry accepted the mistake. Chief of Army Staff
General VP Malik ordered an inquiry and warned of severe
punishment for those responsible for the outrageous mistake but
nothing has happened till today but on the other side, Yoginder was
not deprived of the award until the outcomes of the inquiry
committee, which never came up with any conclusion, enabling an
absconder to enjoy the honour of being PVC recipient, though he has
never been any out of the turn promotion etc, to recognize his
“bravery” while such promotions and benefits otherwise come as a
package for a PVC recipient in India. The Daily Mail’s investigations
indicate that recommendation for any gallantry award for a soldier
is initiated by the commanding officer of a battalion to the brigade
headquarters. From the brigade headquarters it is passed on after
scrutiny to the divisional headquarters and from there to the corps
headquarters. From the corps, after detailed discussion and
correlation of the claims, it is the send to the command headquarters,
where from it is forwarded to the army headquarters in New Delhi but
it appears that in the Kargil case, every body did everything on
emergency basis, without following the set procedures and thus
committed serious blunders. “The Param Vir Chakra is awarded for
rarest of the rare gallantry which is beyond the call of duty and which
in normal life is considered impossible to do, but it seems that these
pre-requisites never came under consideration in the process of
awarding awards to Kargil fighters of Indian army, “ said Brig Singh,
a former officer of the Indian army and now attached with a defence
related think tank at New Delhi. He said a gallantry award is given
for a particular act, and a soldier could win more than one gallantry
award in a war for his different actions. The Daily Mail’s findings
indicate that while the Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra,
Vir Chakra, Sena Medal and Mention in Despatches are awarded to
soldiers who go out to the field and fight the battle, for leadership
qualities senior officers are selected for Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal,
Uttam Yudh Seva Medal and Yudh Seva Medal. After the Kargil
conflict, Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal was awarded to the chief of
Western Command of the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal Vinod
Patney, who is so far the second officer in Independent India’s
history to be awarded this honour. The Daily Mail’s findings disclose
that just like Grenadier Yadav’s case, Rifleman Sanjay Kumar was
also falsely citied for bravery by his field commanders as he was
seriously wounded after receiving bullets on chest as well as at the
arms and was retrieved by the medical units in unconsciousness
from the foot of a hill during the ceasefire hours. The Daily Mail’s
findings indicate that a committee whichwas formed to review the
Kargil citations after the Yadav episode, disclosed that Rifleman
Sanjay Kumar was also a fake hero., Kumar, in the meantime, was
elevated to the rank of lance Naik and then to the rank of Havildar.
In the light of the recommendations of the review committee, the
Indian army decided not to make the new PVC blunder public and
decided to hush-up the matter. However, later Kumar was not only
demoted to the rank of Lance Naik but was also subjected to grave
snubbing and humiliation by his seniors, making life miserable for
the otherwise PVC recipient, in the army.Major Gen (retd) Sheru
Thapliyal, who was military advisor during the Kargil operation
refused to comment over the issue when contacted by The Daily Mail.
Maj Gen Thapliyal had recommended promotion for the gallantry
award winners. However repeated attempts to elicit a response from
the Ministry of Defence over phone, e-mail by The Daily Mail proved
futile while the Army also refused to comment over the issue.The
Daily Mail’s findings indicate that Indian Military Intelligence and
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) have been making numerous
efforts to defend the image of the fake heroes of Kargil. These findings
indicate that as a top effort, RAW drafted the script of a Bollywood
movie titled, LoC Kargil and completely financed the same with
theme to project both Yadav and Kumar as war heroes of Kargil
conflict, though the movie came as a supper dupper flop on the box
office despite a galaxy of Indian showbiz stars featuring in it.The
Daily Mail’s findings indicate that General VP Malik is also set to
face the charges for financial wrong doings during the Kargil
conflict, once the AFT finishes the hearing on current petitions. The
Daily Mail’s findings further reveal that India’s Comptroller and
Auditor General’s (CAG) report on the procurement of supplies
during the Kargil conflict had revealed the sordid state of affairs in
the Indian Ministry of Defence. The stink arising out of senior
military officers brazenly discussing the system of bribery on tape
had hardly subsided, when the CAG report came out with a scathing
indictment of the systematic corruption and irregularities in the
emergency procurement during “Operation Vijay” in May-June,
1999.The Daily Mail’s findings reveal that the CAG report audited
123 contracts involving Rs. 2,163.09 crore. It found that supplies
worth Rs. 1,762.21 crore, which constituted 81 per cent of the total
expenditure, materialised six months after the operations in 2000.
The report concluded: “Thus, while critical supplies of clothing,
ammunition and arms could not reach the troops during the
operation, an amount of Rs.1,046 crore, almost half of the total,
entirely in foreign exchange, was spent fruitlessly, breaching
established principles of propriety.”The CAG report listed how
purchases of a whole host of equipment were fiddled. They range
from small arms, artillery ammunition, special clothing and other
military equipment. Among the deals found violating procedures are
the buying of handheld thermal imagers (Rs. 41.95 crore), terminally
guided munitions (Rs. 151 crore), bullet proof jackets (Rs. 51.65
crore), anti-material rifles (Rs. 23.22 crore), flame throwers
(Rs. 18.22 crore) and ammunition (Rs. 402.76 crore). Nothing was
sacrosanct for making money out of the jawans fighting in the Kargil
war. The report found that 3,438 pairs of boots ordered for the
soldiers, were of two smaller sizes, 5 and 6, not fit for adults; thus
Rs. 1.85 crore was frittered away.The Daily Mail’s investigations
reveal that the most shocking case was of the coffins ordered for
transporting the dead bodies of soldiers who were killed in battle.
The BJP-led government obviously believed swadeshi coffins were
no good. The Ministry ordered coffins from an American company
at the rate of US $ 2,500, i.e., Rs. 1.09 lakh per casket. The bid was
obtained only from one firm and the price for this casket in 1994
was $ 172 per piece. Rs. 1.47 crore was paid for 150 caskets supplied,
which is 90 per cent of the total amount to be paid. The entire lot of
coffins was rejected during inspection as being overweight and not
up to the specifications. No amount of explanation by the Indian
military establishment led by General VP Malik or the BJP-led
government could convince anyone that coffins had to be imported
from the United States. There were hundreds of industrial units in
India which could have supplied suitable coffins at a hundredth of
the price paid. to discuss the issue on December 18.The Kargil
equipment scam is not only a shameful blot on the Indian Army
and the Defense Ministry of India but it was also an insult to the
armed forces and the country. The pseudo-nationalists; the
Generals of the Indian army were exposed as the worst profiteers.
This shameful episode made all Indian citizens hang their heads
in shame and once again, a former Brigadier of the Indian Army,
Brigadier PM Singh has planned to file a case in the Delhi High
Court to charge general VP Malik and his associates as well as the
then Defence Minister George Fernandez for the financial corruption
under the grab of conflict with Pakistan at Kargil.
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