Govt picks new Army, IAF Chiefs; heads of IB and RAW

New Delhi: The government named Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat as the new Army Chief and Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa as the new Chief of the IAF, ending weeks of intense speculation in a late evening announcement on Saturday. Army Chief General Dalbir Singh and IAF Chief Arup Raha will both retire on December 31.

While the IAF Chief’s appointment is along expected lines of seniority, the new Army Chief will supercede two seniors — Eastern Army commander Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi and Southern Army commander Lt. Gen. P.M. Hariz.

This will be the second time that the seniority principle has not been followed in the Army. In 1983, General A.S. Vaidya was made the 13th Army Chief overlooking the seniority of Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha.

Earlier in the day, the government appointed Jharkhand cadre IPS officer Rajiv Jain as the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Anil Dhasmana as the new head of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency.

News agency PTI quoted official sources saying that Lt. Gen. Rawat, from the Gorkha Regiment, was found best suited to deal with emerging challenges, including a reorganised and restructured military force in the north, continuing terrorism and proxy war from the west, and the situation in the northeast.

Commissioned into the IAF’s fighter stream in 1978, Air Marshal Dhanoa has served in various squadrons and in the intelligence directorate of Air Headquarters.

Meanwhile, the new chiefs of the IB and the R&AW will have a two-year tenure. Mr Jain, who is serving as the special director in the IB, will take over on January 1 after incumbent Dineshwar Sharma completes his two-year tenure on December 31. A recipient of President’s police medal, the 1980-batch officer has served in various departments, including the sensitive Kashmir desk, of the IB.

He was advisor to the previous NDA government’s interlocutor on Kashmir K.C. Pant when talks were held with separatist leaders like Shabbir Shah.

Mr Dhasmana who will take over the reins of the R&AW succeeds Rajinder Khanna who completes his tenure this year-end. Mr Dhasmana, a 1981-batch officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been with the R&AW for the last 23 years during which he has served on important desks, including Pakistan.

Meanwhile, while a theory is doing the rounds that the government may also establish the post of a five-star general in the form of chief of defence staff (CDS), and Gen. Bakshi may be named as the country’s first CDS, no details were available.

Lt. Gen. Bakshi, an Armoured corps officer, had not held critical field postings, while Lt. Gen. Hariz had no experience in operational areas in terms of counter-insurgency or seeing action along the LoC.

Sources told this newspaper that there was a danger of toppling the balance in the Army, which would affect the line of succession.