Letters: Retrograde step

With reference to Ajai Shukla's thought-provoking piece "While 'surgical strikes' were under way, govt cut Army's disability pensions" (October 10), this news must have come as a bolt from the blue for every Indian who holds our armed forces in very high esteem. It is almost impossible to believe that the government (defence ministry) could take such a humiliating step to drastically reduce pensions for soldiers who are crippled by battle injuries or by injuries linked to hazardous military services. It may be pertinent to point out that our parliamentarians are eligible for a lifelong pension and the sum also gets updated as and when their pay and perks (mostly tax-free) are revised.

The timing of the ministry of defence (MoD) letter (September 30) raises several eyebrows and sounds unbelievable and highly disturbing, as our brave army para-commandos had slipped silently across the Line of Control (LoC) only on September 28 on a perilous mission to punish anti-India jihadis and their Pakistani army backers. This retrograde step could be the worst example of backstabbing by the government. One really wonders whether this was a return gift from this ungrateful government for the precise surgical strikes carried out by our brave soldiers at the gravest risk of their own lives. In fact, words fail to express our deep anguish and frustration over this mindless move by the MoD headed by our most competent minister - it may be recalled that PM Narendra Modi had strategically lifted him directly from Goa in May 2014. But, in any case, reducing the disability pension in this manner could always be a national shame. It's ironic that the Bharatiya Janata Party is using military images and the army's intrepid cross-LoC raid to attract votes in the upcoming elections in four states. One presupposes that these unfortunate developments have taken place with the tacit approval of the Prime Minister's Office.

Kumar Gupt, Panchkula

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