Don't politicise Army ops

The much-hyped “surgical strike” of September 29, 2016 has been regularly criticised by commentators and critics of the government, but now Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda (Retd), who was the Northern Army commander in 2016 and had overall charge of that operation, appears to share their view. At a public event in Chandigarh recently, the retired general said that while it was natural for the Army to be “euphoric” about a successful operation by crossing the Line of Control that was necessary after a terrorist attack from across the border on an Army camp in Uri in Kashmir, it should have been kept under wraps, and that politicising it was unwarranted.

This is the most significant criticism of the incumbent government and ruling party over the controversial political use of a military operation. India’s long-standing creed has been that the armed forces and their actions must not be made a matter of partisan politics in a healthy democracy, and that the military must be sheltered from domestic politics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought to play up the “surgical strikes” in the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in early 2017. This year, the BJP even observed the “Surgical Strike Day” in September in order to emphasise its so-called “nationalist” credentials.

In the 10 years of UPA rule, similar strikes were not publicised. An important reason is that while India has cause to routinely criticise Pakistan for permitting the violation of the Line of Control, it observes bilateral agreements and international protocols not to do so.