Strong action needed

Act of rescuing polling booth staff from stone-pelting mob seems to have horrified the author

In the article, “History lessons for current Armymen” (May 26), the author, Aakar Patel, has displayed a good knowledge of history, but it is obvious that he has not been a participant in history-making.

I would advise him to read Jadunath Sarkar’s book, The Fall of the Mughal Empire, the prequel to A Short History of Aurangzib. On May 29, 1658, Dara Shikoh’s army was decisively defeated in the Battle of Samugarh, 16 km east of Agra. But the bravery shown by the Hada Rajputs’ cavalry of Bundi under Rao Chhatrasal, who fought on Shikoh’s side, was outstanding. 

Similarly, the Indian Army’s martial traditions is intact today, and does not depend on wars being fought in every generation. The Israeli Army has also not fought a full-scale war since1973.

The unfair criticism of the Indian Army and its chief by the author over the conduct of an action team leader in a conflict situation is appalling. The act of rescuing besieged polling booth staff from a stone-pelting anti-national mob in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on April 9, without killing a single troublemaker seems to have horrified the author. Patel has termed the act of tying the stone-pelters’ alleged leader to the bonnet of a vehicle and taking him along wherever the rescue team had to go that day as “kidnapping”. 

It is apparent that the author does not know what it means to operate in an active militancy-affected area. What “underhand criminal tactic” is he condemning, instead of lauding the act that saved lives? The Army is the last resort of the state, when all other organs for restoring normalcy has failed. Only strong actions can achieve this in a quick time frame.

J K Achuthan   Thiruvananthapuram

Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to: 

The Editor, Business Standard

Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg 

New Delhi 110 002 

Fax: (011) 23720201  •  E-mail: letters@bsmail.in

All letters must have a postal address and telephone number