Seven Blunders That Will Always Haunt India

8/8/2019 Seven Blunders That Will Always Haunt India

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Seven Blunders that Will Always HauntIndia

Major General Mrinal Suman, AVSM, VSM, PhDSource: http://www.indiandefencereview.com

History is most unforgiving. As historical mistakes cannot be undone, they have complexcascading effect on a nations future. Here is a saga of seven historical blunders that havechanged the course of independent Indias history and cast a dark shadow over its future. Thesecostly mistakes will continue to haunt India for generations. They have been recounted here in achronological order with a view to highlight inadequacies of Indias decision making apparatusand leaderships incompetence to act with vision.

1.The Kashmir MessThere can be no better example of shooting in ones own foot than Indias clumsy handling of theKashmir issue. It is a saga of naivety, blinkered vision and inept leadership. Hari Singh was thereigning monarch of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. He was vacillating when tribal

marauders invaded Kashmir in October 1947, duly backed by the Pakistan army. Unable tocounter them, Hari Singh appealed to India for assistance and agreed to accede to India. Indianforces blunted the invasion and re-conquered vast areas.

First, India erred by not insisting on unequivocal accession of the state to the Dominion of Indiaand granted special status to it through Article 380 of the Constitution. Secondly, when on theverge of evicting all invaders and recapturing the complete state, India halted operations on 1January 1949 and appealed to the Security Council. It is the only case in known history wherein acountry, when on the threshold of complete victory, has voluntarily forsaken it in the misplacedhope of winning admiration of the world community. Thirdly and most shockingly, the Indianleadership made a highly unconstitutional offer of plebiscite in the UN.

Forty percent area of the state continues to be under Pakistans control, providing it a strategic

land route to China through the Karakoram ranges. As a fall out of the unresolved dispute, Indiaand Pakistan have fought numerous wars and skirmishes with no solution in sight. Worse, thelocal politicians are holding India to ransom by playing the Pak card. Kashmir issue is a selfcreated cancerous furuncle that defies all medications and continues to bleed the country.

2. Ignoring Chinese Threats and Neglect of the MilitaryMemories of the year 1962 will always trouble the Indian psyche. A nation of Indias size hadlulled itself into believing that its protestations and platitudes of peaceful co-existence would bereciprocated by the world. It was often stated that a peace loving nation like India did not needmilitary at all. The armed forces were neglected. Political leadership took pride in denigrating themilitary leadership and meddled in internal affairs of the services to promote sycophancy. Foreignpolicy was in shambles. Intelligence apparatus was rusted.

Even though signs of Chinas aggressive intentions were clearly discernible for years in advance,Indian leadership decided to keep its eyes shut in the fond hope that the problem would resolveitself. When China struck, the country was caught totally unprepared. Troops were rushed tosnowbound areas with summer clothing and outdated rifles. Despite numerous sagas of gallantry,the country suffered terrible embarrassment. India was on its knees. With national morale andpride in tatters, India was forced to appeal to all nations for military aid. Inept and incompetentleadership had forced a proud nation to find solace in Lata Mangeshkars Ae Mere Watan KeLogo.

3. The Tashkent Agreement and Return of Haji Pir Pass


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Following the cease-fire after the Indo-Pak War of 1965, a Russian sponsored agreement wassigned between India and Pakistan in Tashkent on 10 January 1966. Under the agreement, Indiaagreed to return the strategic Haji Pir pass to Pakistan which it had captured in August 1965against heavy odds and at a huge human cost. The pass connects Poonch and Uri sectors inJammu and Kashmir and reduces the distance between the two sectors to 15 km whereas thealternate route entails a travel of over 200 km. India got nothing in return except an undertakingby Pakistan to abjure war, an undertaking which meant little as Pakistan never had any intentionof honouring it.

Return of the vital Haji Pir pass was a mistake of monumental proportions for which India issuffering to date. In addition to denying a direct link between Poonch and Uri sectors, the pass isbeing effectively used by Pakistan to sponsor infiltration of terrorists into India. Inability to resistRussian pressure was a manifestation of the boneless Indian foreign policy and shortsightedleadership.

4. The Simla AgreementWith the fall of Dhaka on 16 December 1971, India had scored a decisive victory over Pakistan.Over 96,000 Pak soldiers were taken Prisoners of War (PoWs). Later, an agreement was signedbetween the two countries on 2 July 1972 at Shimla. Both countries agreed to exchange allPoWs, respect the line of control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir and refrain from the use of threat

or force. Additionally, Bhutto gave a solemn verbal undertaking to accept LOC as the de factoborder.

India released all Pak PoWs in good faith. Pakistan, on the other hand, released only 617 IndianPoWs while holding back 54 PoWs who are still languishing in Pakistani jails. The IndianGovernment has admitted this fact a number of times but has failed to secure their release. Indiafailed to use the leverage of 96,000 Pak PoWs to discipline Pakistan. A rare opportunity was thuswasted. What to talk of establishing permanent peace in the sub-continent, India failed to ensurerelease of all Indian PoWs - a criminal omission by all accounts.

Naivety of the Indian delegation can be seen from the fact that it allowed Pakistan to bluff its waythrough at Shimla. The Indian leadership was fooled into believing Pakistans sincerity.Unquestionably, Pakistan never intended to abide by its promises, both written and verbal. Fruits

of a hard fought victory in the battlefield were frittered away on a negotiating table by bunglingleadership.

5. The Nuclear MuddleSubsequent to the Chinese Nuclear Test at Lop Nor in 1964, India showed rare courage incarrying out its first nuclear test on 18 May 1974 at Pokharan. Outside the five permanentmembers of the UN Security Council, India was the only nation to prove its nuclear capability. Thewhole country was ecstatic and every Indian felt proud of its scientific prowess. But Indians hadnot contended with their Governments penchant for converting opportunity into adversity andsquandering hard earned gains.

Instead of asserting Indias newly acquired status of a nuclear power and demanding recognition,India turned apologetic and tried to convince the world that it had no nuclear ambitions. Strangely,

it termed the Pokharan test as a peaceful nuclear explosion - a term unheard of till then. TheDefence Minister went to the extent of claiming that the Indian nuclear experiment was "only formining, oil and gas prospecting, for finding underground sources of water, for diverting rivers, forscientific and technological knowledge." It was a self-deprecating stance. Displaying acuteinferiority complex, India did not want to be counted as a member of the exclusive nuclear club.

Criticism and sanctions were expected and must have been factored in before opting for thenuclear test. Whereas a few more assertive follow-on tests would have forced the world to acceptIndia as a member of the nuclear club, India went into an overdrive to placate the world through aself imposed moratorium on further testing. It lost out on all the advantages provided to it by its


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scientists. It suffered sanctions and yet failed to gain recognition as a nuclear power. The countrymissed golden opportunities due to the timidity and spinelessness of its leaders.

6. Kandahar HijackHijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar by Pakistani terrorists in December 1999 willcontinue to rile Indias self-respect for long. According to the Hindustan Times, India lost face andgot reduced to begging for co-operation from the very regimes that were actively undermining itsinternal security. The hijacking revealed how ill-prepared India was to face up to the challenges ofinternational terrorism.

The eight day long ordeal was over when Indias National Security Adviser brazenly announcedthat an agreement had been reached for the release of all the hostages in exchange for threeKashmiri militants including Maulana Masood Azhar. Sadly, the Prime Minister claimed credit forforcing the hijackers to climb down on their demands. The worst was yet to follow. Indias ForeignMinister decided to accompany the released militants to Kandahar, as if seeing off honouredguests.

Governments poor crisis-management skills and extreme complacency in security mattersallowed the hijackers to take off from Amritsar airport after 39 minutes halt for refueling, therebyletting the problem get out of control. Indias much vaunted decision making apparatus collapsed

and was completely paralysed by the audacity of a bunch of motivated fanatics. It was acomprehensive failure of monumental proportions. Indias slack and amateurish functioning madethe country earn the tag of a soft nation which it will find very difficult to shed.

7. Illegal Immigration and Passage of IMDT ActIt is a standard practice all over the world that the burden of proving ones status as a bonafidecitizen of a country falls on the accused. It is so for India as well under Foreigners Act, 1946.Political expediency forced the Government to make an exception for Assam. In one of the mostshort-sighted and anti-national moves, India passed Illegal Migrants - Determination by Tribunals(IMDT) Act of 1984 for Assam. It shifted the onus of proving illegal status of a suspectedimmigrant to the accuser, which was a tall and virtually impossible order. Detection anddeportation of illegal immigrants became impossible.

Whenever demands were raised for repealing the Act, Congress, Left Front and United MinoritiesFront resisted strongly. Illegal immigrants had become the most loyal vote bank of the Congress.Worse, every protest against the Act was dubbed as anti-minority, thereby imparting communalcolour to an issue of national security. Governments pardon of all Bangladeshis who had comein before 1985 was another unconstitutional act that aggravated the problem.

The Act was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on July 13, 2005, more than20 years after its enactment. The Apex Court was of the view that the influx of Bangladeshinationals into Assam posed a threat to the integrity and security of northeastern region.Unfortunately immense damage had already been done to the demography of Assam and thelocal people of Assam had been reduced to minority status in certain districts. Illegal immigrantshave come to have a stranglehold over electioneering to the extent that no party can hope tocome to power without their support. Nearly 30 Islamic groups are thriving in the area to further

their Islamist and Pan Bangla Desh agenda. It is incomprehensible that a nations leadership canstoop so low and endanger even national security for garnering votes.

Finally, is India Wiser Today?Two features are common to all the above mentioned blunders. First, all decisions were taken bythe political leadership and the bureaucracy. The military leadership was neither taken intoconfidence nor consulted. As a matter of fact it was deliberately kept out of the decision makingloop. Although military is the primary stake holder in Indias nuclear prowess, it was notconsidered necessary to take it in confidence while taking decisions of strategic proportions.


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Both Tashkant and Shimla Agreements were preceded by bitterly fought wars. They entailednegotiating the extent, scope and modalities of withdrawal from occupied areas. Even then, noneed was felt to seek militarys advice and no service officer was included in the Indiandelegations. Political leaders and the bureaucracy abrogated the right to negotiate militarymatters, in the egoistic belief that they were more qualified for the task. The results weredisastrous, as mentioned above.

The second common feature is that no political leader or bureaucrat was ever held accountablefor monumental blunders made by them. On the contrary, every single bureaucrat made it to thehigher grades and was even given lucrative post-retirement appointments. It is an obnoxioussight to see the guilty men of the above blunders masquerading as foreign policy experts on TVshows and unabashedly offering their pearls of wisdom.

The above mentioned seven indefensible blunders have had enormous impact on the security,standing and history of India. Future generations will rue the fact that the Indian leadership failedthe nation at critical junctures due to incompetence, ineptitude and selfish interests. Proclivity forperpetuating personal power made the leadership shortsighted and egocentric. But for thehistorical blunders, the current Indian geo-political scenario would have been totally different.

Has India learnt any lesson? Unfortunately, none whatsoever. Even now, military leadership is

consciously and willfully kept out of all decision making apparatus. Even issues that affectsecurity of the nation are decided by the bureaucrats who do not possess even elementaryknowledge of military matters. It is only in India that well connected retired bureaucrats areoffered membership of the National Security Council (NSC) as a rehabilitation measure. Merit andexpertise are of little consequence. Further, India is perhaps the only country in the world whereinNSC does not have a single military member. Bureaucrats and ex-police officers have made NSCtheir exclusive domain, thereby depriving the nation of expert military advice. Resultantly,recurring blunders will continue to cost the country dear.

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Seven Blunders That Will Always Haunt India