https://www.dropbox.com/s/8br8w9rs1zctdt0/On%20the%20Indian%20Army%20of%20my%20time.pdf?dl=0
https://www.academia.edu/100135521/On_the_Indian_Army_of_my_time
On
the Indian Army of my time
For my Commanding Officers
-
in gratitude
Preface
This e-book’s contents
date to when I was in uniform, either in regimental service as a middle piece
officer of the Light Infantry and in the Rashtriya Rifles or in extra-regimental
assignments elsewhere in the junior echelon of service. The period straddles
the turn of the century, with the commentaries written sometime between
1995-2005 or so. The book is thus a good snapshot of the army at the time, a
worm’s eye view as it were.
I had a somewhat unique
vantage point, having done a War Studies course on study leave somewhat early
in service. I thought that the course provided me some insight which made my
viewing the Service somewhat different from the perspective of my colleagues in
traditional career paths. I therefore believed that communicating these
observations to the Service was an obligation, for having spared me for
undertaking the course.
While I have inserted a
few articles that did see the light of day in Service publications, majority of
the pieces here were not so lucky. Some of these were written as observations
on contents of Service periodicals – such as the part in this book on Letters
to Editor. Others were as responses to in-Service essay competitions – sent with
no intention of winning, but only to make a point as contribution to Service
thinking. Some were contrarion, but only constructively so.
The articles cover War
and Insurgency, the primary preoccupation of the Army in my time and carried in
successive sections here. The Punjab and Sri Lankan engagements in the eighties
– both of which I saw as a foot slogger – and the extensive commitments in the
nineties in Kashmir and Assam - both of which provided locales for jungle
bashing and my claim to have soldiered once. The tussle was between votaries of
the hard and softline, with me lining up with the latter and fleshing out the
Ashokan tradition in Indian strategic thought on the intellectual frontlines
within the Service. These writings are part of the second section, on
Insurgency, in this ebook.
As backdrop, was the discussion on how to keep
the conventional deterrent honed, to keep the subconventional challenge
manageable. India dramatically came up with a nuclear answer to this. At the
time of writing, this answer was deflated by Pakistan’s upping of the
subconventional ante. The professional concerns nuclearization generated energised
a small debate within the Service. I lent shoulder to the less popular – though
to my mind more sober and mature – strategic alternative by overlaying the
Limited War theory on the emerging strategic equation in South Asia. The output
is carried in the section on War in this ebook.
Admittedly, some of the impulse
behind articles collated here in the Military Sociology part, was grouching, no
more than the usual survival strategy of infantrymen. But it was also informed
by my learning – admittedly somewhat immodestly put – from my elective ‘Armed
Forces and Society’ at the bespoke course. It discusses not only higher order
matters as civil-military relations but also the military’s relationship with
its mandate, officership and the military as a calling.
A significant aspect of
historical interest is in the Letters to Editor pages here. The Letters to
Editors were written in response to articles carried on their publication’s
pages. These letters usually queried the insertion of Hindutva world view into
the professional consciousness using the pages of in-Service journals by
officer purveyors. This is in the period of the right-wing government’s first
stint in power. It is easy to see how ideological entrepreneurs in uniform used
Service conduits to infiltrate Hindutva into the military. At the time they
were still in the closet. Editorial inattention allowed for Hindutva discourse
to be normalised in the Service. I think this was at the cost of
professionalism. The Letters provide a glimpse of Hindutva’s early infiltration
into military innards.
I have put in a section
on Book Reviews, for in-Service readers. Reading is a habit that is advocated
for officers, though increasingly they are not from the catchment of reading
public. Besides, service life is apparently considerably busier these days,
than was in my time. The idea is to encourage reading, which is ambitious these
days and, on that count, inescapable – especially for upwardly mobile officers.
This book owes to the
latitude extended to me by my Commanding Officers – for no reasons I was privy
to (though I suspect it was to keep me far from the Adjutant’s chair). I have
benefited from their stewardship of my time in Service. I used the time to
engage with issues way outside my pay grade, as a hobby for most part.
This collection of
in-Service reflection is in part testimony of intellectual concerns of officers
of my generation. Put out by an atypical officer, there is no claim to any
consensus on the thoughts expressed. I take full responsibility for deficits. The
hope is that when some military historian or researcher wishes to understand
the Service of the turn of the century, she would find here an enlightening page
or two.
Further reading
Ali writings comments and reviews
Institutional Interest: A Study Of Indian Strategic Culture By Major Ali
Ahmed
Right wing ascendance in India and politicisation of India’s military.
Indian Security A Vantage Point_Ali Ahmed.pdf
On Indias Military - Writings from within - Ali Ahmed1.pdf
From Within - Reflections on Indias army - Ali Ahmed1.pdf
Contents
War
1.
Reflection
On The Threat Of Nuclear War – 9
2. Nuclear Risk Reduction –
13
3.
The Doctrinal Challenge – 14
4. The Politico-Military Utility Of Ballistic
Missiles - Case Study Of India – 17
5.
Limited (Nuclear) War – 25
6.
The Threat Of War - 26
7.
Limited War: A Sub-Continental Perspective – 27
8.
Two Front Threat Perspective – 34
Insurgency
9.
LIC And International Law – 38
10.
LIC
: Intervention As Paradigm – 42
11.
A
Controversial Look: Counter-Insurgency And Human Rights – 45
12.
Jihad And Revolutionary War – 52
13.
Jihadi War In Strategic Theory – 64
14. On Military
Leadership In Counter-Insurgency Operations - 68
15. 'Kashmir
Diary: The Psychology Of Militancy' - A Critical Review - 71
16. Questionable
Statistics on Kashmir - 74
17.
Hindu India: The Security Dimension - 76
18. Counter-Guerilla Strategy: A Perspective Of
The Future - 78
19.
Threat To Indian Society Posed
By Man-Portable Weapons And Explosives - 83
20. J&K:
The Perspectives Contrasted - 90
21. Tackling Psychological Pressures On SF In LIC – 93
22. Comments On
Article: The J&K Peace Process - 97
23. Widening
The Discourse On Terror – 103
24.
Offensive Air Power In J&K? – 104
Military Sociology
25. Military
And Politics: Can the Military be apolitical? Should it? - 108
26. Civil-Military
Relations: A Theoretical Perspective - 111
27. Company
Command: A Template - 113
28. What
Is `It'? - 115
29. Reflections
On Officership In The Infantry – 117
30. Officership
In The Army : A Redefinition - 119
31.
Change
And The Indian Military: The Unaddressed Dimensions - 125
32. The
Strategic ‘Community’ - 133
33.
The
‘Pathology’ Of Info War - 136
34.
A Question Of Identity: The Leader-Manager
Binary – 140
35.
Reflection
On Military Ethos - 143
36. The Fauji
Memsahib : A More Than Cosmetic Change - 146
37. An
Anti-Drill Diatribe - 150
Letters to Editor
38.
Infantry
India, 7 Jul 1998 - 154
39.
Infanry
India, 24 Nov 1995 – 156
40.
USI
Journal, 28 Nov 1998 - 157
41.
Naam,
Namak, Nishan, Infantry Plus, 29 March 2001 – 160
42.
Defence
Management Journal, 11 May 2001 – 160
43.
The
Threat Of Politicisation, Infantry India - 164
44. Equally ‘Free And
Frank’, Pinnacle – 166
45. Combat Journal, 6
Feb 2003 – 167
46. Pratividrohi, 2 Sep
2003 - 168
47.
Infantry
India, 11 Oct 2003 – 170
48.
Of
Martyrs And Infantrymen, 2 Feb 2003 – 171
Book Reviews
49.
C Raja Mohan, Crossing the Rubicon; The
Shaping of India’s New Foreign Policy - 174
50.
Wajahat Habibullah, 'The Political
Economy of the Kashmir Conflict - Opportunities for Economic Peacebuilding and
for U.S. Policy - 175
51.
Lt Gen (Retd.) Sood, VK; Swahney, P., Operation
Parakram: The War Unfinished – 177
52.
Philpot, D., Revolutions in Sovereignty:
How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations - 179
53.
Major Vivek Chadha, The Book of
Military Quotations – 180
54.
Michael C. Desch, Civilian Control of
the Military – The Changing Security Environment – 180
55.
Maroof Raza, ed. Generals and
Governments in India and Pakistan – 182
56.
Karnad, B., ‘Nuclear Weapons and Indian
Security: The Realist Foundations of Strategy’ – 183
57.
Robert W Stern, Democracy and
Dictatorship in South Asia: Dominant Classes and Political Outcomes
In India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh – 185
58.
Kanwal, G., Nuclear Defense: Shaping
the Arsenal – 185
59.
Thomas Risse, Stephen C Ropp and Kathryn
Sikkink, (eds.) The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and
Domestic Change – 187
60.
Stephen D Krasner, Sovereignity:
Organised Hypocricy - 187
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