The Army’s decision to seek a review of the Armed Forces Tribunal judgment ordering a rewrite of the official Kargil War history to accurately reflect Briggadier Devinder Singh’s execution of the victory in the Batalik Sector, is being viewed as a tactic to preserve its somewhat battered image while precluding claims by similarly aggrieved officers.
The AFT order in May had instructed the Army to rewrite key paragraphs to depict the heroic manner in which Brig Singh, as 70 Infantry Brigade commander, and his troops secured the strategic Batalik region from Pakistan’s intruding Northern Light Infantry in the face of tremendous odds following fierce fighting.
Brig. Singh — since retired — after being passed over for promotion a record five times and allegedly denied richly deserved battle honours, had claimed that his considerable battlefield achievements in Batalik were belittled and credit for the enemy’s vacation was wrongly shared by Brig Ashok Duggal — the then deputy GOC of 3 Div — who was deployed to the war zone for barely 72 hours. Sources said the Army has however accepted the AFT’s verdict expunging Brig Singh’s annual confidential report written by his corps commander Lt. Gen Kishan Pal on grounds of subjectivity.
A senior Army officer said, “It would be difficult for army headquarters if not impossible to accede to the tribunal’s demand to overturn the official account of the Kargil conflict since that would open up the entire five-week long mismanaged conflict to further scrutiny and perhaps embarrassment.”
Such a course would be evidently disastrous for the generals who claimed Kargil as an unparalleled military victory by, as is evident from the AFT judgment, rather clumsily papering over numerous higher command-and-control shor-tcomings.
Notably, the AFT is believed to be in the final stages of adjudicating the petition of at least one other officer, Brig. Surinder Singh, who commanded the Kargil-based 121 brigade during the period of infiltration and early days of the border conflict.
“Army Headquarters would understandably be concerned that altering the already documented account of Brig. Devinder’s role could provide a leeway to officers like Brig Surinder (who was dismissed from service),” an officer said. The Army’s top brass have already been on the backfoot amidst numerous calls for a comprehensive review of Kargil’s history in the wake of the AFT’s reprieve for Brig Devinder Singh.
But the decision to appeal the AFT order also appears desperate after top generals including former the chief Gen. Ved Prakash Malik’s public endorsement of Brig Devinder’s heroism during the war.
Many officers believe “it should have been Lt. Gen. Kishan Pal seeking review of his indictment by the ATF, not the Army which should have remained neutral.”
But then the Indian Army, like all others, is anxious to preserve its image. Acceding to the AFT’s demands would doubtlessly damage its luster even further if uncomfortable details of the execution of the Kargil war started tumbling out.
Under the circumstances, Brig Devinder Singh’s reputation, his unacknowledged bravery and exceptional leadership on the battlefield are clearly, acceptable collateral damage or a “disposable commodity” just as he told this correspondent some months ago.
Away in J&K, Brig Devinder refused to react saying he would prefer to wait and watch. “Everyone has the right to appeal,” he said.