Governments do not give credit to army: Amarinder

Punjab Congress Chief Captain Amarinder Singh has said governments do not give any "credit" to the army, which has been making sacrifices daily to protect the borders and battle insurgency.
He also questioned the handling of the terror attack at Pathankot air force base, saying that the army is capable enough to deal with such situations.
"An entire post of soldiers was lost in Siachen recently. Everyday there is a coffin coming back, whether it is an officer or a jawan from these counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir.
"I'm afraid this government or any government doesn't seem to give any credit to the army," the former Punjab chief minister said last evening during the session, 'India at War', as part of Delhi Gymkhana's first literature festival here.

He gave the example of the Pathankot terror attack, saying that the National Security Guard flown in to control the situation was "not trained" for the task in contrast to the army, which had been put on hold by the Centre.
"In the case of Pathankot, where you have 50,000 troops, two armoured brigades and 39 divisions and you still have to send the blue-eyed boys of the NSG from here to carry out an operation for which they are not trained," he said.

The Amritsar MP, a former army officer, said that army units in Punjab had been drilled to tackle aircraft insurgencies in Kashmir, and would not need even a battalion to hunt down the terrorists who had attacked the airbase.

"Our boys are doing this everyday. The army units have been through this aircraft insurgency in Kashmir. All that they needed to be told was 'go and do it' and they would have done it.
"Not even a battalion was needed to take on four terrorists. It was a small job which even a company or platoon could have handled," Singh said.
He alleged that the Centre was to blame for the disparity in the pay that soldiers were receiving after the Seventh Pay Commission.
"This government is very much to blame with the Seventh Pay Commission coming. A soldier in Siachen is being paid Rs 31,000 and an equivalent in a civilian job is being paid Rs 55,000 in Guwahati," he said.

Singh, who was discussing his latest book, 'The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce' said the book -- which he has co-written with Lt General Tajinder Shergill -- gives a comprehensive view of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war.
Although India won that war, Singh said the objective was
different.
"It was not the question of taking 100 miles here or there. The objective of Pakistan was very clear -- they came to take Kashmir and we foiled the attempt. And, fortunately, that time the Kashmiris did not give them any support," he said.
The Punjab Congress Chief, who has also written about the wars India fought in 1947, 1962 and 1965, said he has been interested in military matters and history from a young age.

"I used to hate studying and the only exam I probably passed was the UPSC to get into NDA where I worked very hard. Otherwise, my interest in school was only games, either playing hockey or football," he said.
Singh said that although he had to quit the army in 1969, his interest in military history continues along with that in writing.
"Sadly, I had to leave the army in 1969 because my father was sent to Italy as the country's ambassador and my mother was in Parliament, so somebody had to quit because my brother was also in the army. I wouldn't have quit otherwise," Singh said.

Talking on the reason behind him choosing to write about military history, the MP said that a lack of books on the Indian Army and the wars fought by it had prompted him to turn to the genre.
"My reading from early on was always military history. If I went to Charing Cross in London, which had a big store with an entire floor of military history... I would always ask them if they had anything on the Indian Army and they would have nothing because no one was interested.
(Reopens DES76)
Meanwhile, Amarinder said Congress has sought time from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the alleged collapse of law-and-order situation in the state.

"We shall soon meet Home Minister as we have sought time to apprise him of collapse of law and order, growing incidents of attacks on religious leaders in the state, gangwars etc. This is becoming a joke," he said.
The PCC president alleged H S Phoolka and his patron Arvind Kejriwal have mastered the art of mud-slinging and levelling false allegations against people and then trying to get away with everything.
"There has to be a stop to it and we will call their bluff," he asserted.
He said, Nath's name was deliberately dragged by Phoolka into the controversy in 2006, but he was exonerated by the Justice Nanavati Commission, which had been constituted by the BJP led NDA government to probe into the anti-Sikh riots.

"Till now, never did Badal, or any Akali leader, doubt Kamal Nath's credentials, rather he always enjoyed a "bonhomie" with him and also defended him and now certainly he has woken up to the charges that he was involved in anti-Sikh riots", he observed, while adding, when Nath was a minister, Badal was a frequent visitor to his office.
Meanwhile, Congress also accused Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal of giving patronage to criminals.
Congress leader and Abohar MLA Sunil Jakhar alleged that Youth Akali Dal south Malwa president Rozy Barkandi and Deputy CM's OSD Satinderjit Manta had visited the Fazilka jail on June 7 to facilitate a patch-up between two alleged prisoners, lodged in Fazilka jail.

He sought CBI investigation into it, alleging that several police officials, including to the rank of DGP, were also involved.