POK To Galwan Debate: Instead Of Fighting The Enemy, We Are Busy Fighting Each Other Over Nothing

File photo of a life-size oil painting installed in Delhi's Connaught Place area in 2020 as a mark of tribute to the Galwan Valley martyrs.

Source : Getty

The armies of the three nuclear neighbours, India, Pakistan and China, were the biggest news story of the Indian subcontinent yesterday. Developments in both India and Pakistan with regards to their armies hit the headlines and was the biggest topic of discussion on social media. 

So with Pakistan the big news was the Sharif Brothers, through Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif choosing Lt Gen Asim Munir to become the next Army Chief of Pakistan. Incidentally, Lt Gen Asim Munir was set to retire on November 27, two days before current chief Gen Bajwa retires and was not in the original list of names sent to the Pakistan PM to be considered for Army Chief, obviously as Lt Gen Munir was supposed to retire. But with the Pakistan PM asking for his name to be included, after his brother, former PM Nawaz Sharif, asked him to do so, Lt Gen Asim Munir's elevation was correctly speculated and predicted by those who follow the subcontinent and particularly its politics. 

Now it's strange as an Indian to write the word politics and army in the same sentence because we in India are so used to a non-political army that plays absolutely no role in our governance, unlike our two nuclear neighbours China and Pakistan where the army is central to those who run the country. And to that, Indian democracy and all Indian governments deserve full credit. The writ of running the nation here lies only with the civilian government and the Indian  Army is duty bound to follow the orders of the government of the day! Which is what was the second controversy or the news point in our region.

When Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi was asked to comment on the defence minister's statement on taking back Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, the former replied that the Indian Army is ready to execute any order given by the Government of India, including taking back POK. To quote him verbatim, he said: "As far as the Indian Army is concerned, it will carry out any order given by the Government of India. Whenever such orders are given, we will always be ready for it!". 

Now what else is a serving Army officer supposed to say? Can he say "No I don't agree with the defence minister and we will not follow the orders of the Government of India"? This is India, a democracy, and here the Army does not contradict the government.

Yes, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a politician, made a political statement while campaigning. But it was absolutely silly on part of the media to go and ask the Northern Army commander about his opinion! Now, we are not Pakistan where the army can contradict the government of the day! What else would the officer have said, except we will do as the government orders!

Anyway, so we saw headlines that the Indian Army is prepared to take over POK.

Now having understood the context in which Lt Gen Dwivedi said what he did, somehow Galwan and China was waded into all this and had social media deeply polarised. 

Those who support the government were enraged at what they saw was an insult to our martyrs led by Col Santosh Babu who laid down their lives on that dark night in Galwan. Those who support the opposition were asking why did the government say China did not intrude even after 20 Indian bravehearts were martyred. And this is an insult to our martyrs.

Essentially, both the government and the opposition supporters were saying our martyrs have been insulted but government supporters blamed the "liberals" for not acknowledging the sacrifice, which is not true, and the opposition supporters blamed the government for not acknowledging our martyrs' sacrifice,  which is also not true. 

That Galwan happened was a failure of the Government of India. Every year, between March and May, both China and India carry out their military exercises in Ladakh. In 2020, due to Covid, India did not carry out the exercise, but China did. 

The Army had informed the Union government of the Chinese build-up, and there were enough satellite images to show that. The government should have been more alert and taken the warnings extremely seriously. They sat over this information thinking China will carry out their military exercise and leave. That did not happen. But once the clashes at Galwan took place, the Indian Army hit back and even took strategic heights forcing the Chinese to negotiate even harder. That the Indian government did not recognise our martyrs is incorrect — on the contrary, all 20 martyrs were given gallantry awards.

It was infact China that did not acknowledge their soldiers who were killed by the Indian forces. In fact, the Indian Army has had a fantastic record of not just always acknowledging their own but also according the highest respect to the enemies, be it the 1971 war, Kargil or even at Galwan. The Indian Army has always treated both the Chinese and Pakistan armies as professional fit-fighting forces and has always given respect to the prisoners, and the bodies of the opponents, even though the Pakistan or Chinese armies may not have acknowledged their own men. 

So, as we take a step back, let us celebrate the fantastic democracy that India is. Of course, we are not perfect. All democracies are work in progress, but one thing is for certain here — we as Indians have the utmost respect for our armed forces because they are totally apolitical. If you want to see an armed forces battle perception, just hear Gen Bajwa's speech in Pakistan as he is set to retire, and it will strike you that the Pakistan Army is desperately trying to convince their people that the way forward for them is to be apolitical like India. Of course, it is easier said than done, but it tells you the trust deficit the Pakistan Army is facing vizaviz their citizens.

The author is a political analyst, constitutional expert and television personality.

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