Warriors in uniform and hazards of social media

In 2013, an English magazine carried an article by Mohammad Shehzad, one of Pakistan’s bold journalists. He wrote on Pakistan’s role in Kashmir, its “non state actors” and use of social media. He said that during the tenure of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), jihadis/sectarian outfits started making use of the social media to extend their dangerous mission, not only in Pakistan, but across the world. However, instead of banning the provocative pages, the PPP government blocked all those Facebook pages and Twitter accounts that raised concerns about the rising militancy and sectarianism in the country.

More recently, in an article on a news website, writer Daanish Bin Nabi brought out that elders in the Kashmir Valley were wary of the emerging discontent and its manifestations, that they believed that the political, economic and social rights of the youth have been compromised by the state government, and they blamed social media tools like WhatsApp and Facebook for playing an important role in the recruitment of militants and in radicalising Kashmiri youth. Nabi added that after Burhan Wani uploaded his video in early September 2015 in Nizampora, Shopian, terrorist organisations recruited 17 youth.

In 2016, over 100 days of turmoil in the Valley yet again proved how effectively social media can be misused against peace and security. Barely had the embers of that mayhem cooled that another surprise was sprung on social media.

The first salvo came from Border Security Force (BSF) constable Tej Bahadur Yadav, who put out a video which went viral on social media, repeatedly showing chappati and dal, while alleging that personnel are served bad quality food and at times they are forced to go to bed hungry as well as accusing unnamed officers of illegally selling off rations issued for the force.

The second was a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable Jeet Singh, who asked why the paramilitary force (wrong terminology, it is central armed police force) personnel are not provided facilities at par with their Army counterparts when they are also performing similar tasks.

Soon after came the third video and for the first time from the Army, when Lance Naik Yagya Pratap Singh said that after he wrote to the President, the Prime Minister, defence minister and the Supreme Court in June last year and that his brigade received a communication from PMO asking for a probe into his grievances. He then even began a hungerstrike to protest the “injustice” being done with him. His grievance was against the sahayak (orderly) system in the Army.

The fourth case was Army nursing assistant Naik Ram Bhagat, who expressed concern against discrimination and who also justified BSF constable Yadav’s complaint about poor quality of food.

Having served in the infantry and armoured corps and having visited many Army field formations, units and peace establishments as a defence ministry and Army spokesperson, I recall that every soldiers’ cookhouse, colloquially called “langar”, for every sub-unit, always took pride in turning out sumptuous meals whether cooked to a particular community’s taste or in units with all-India mixed class composition. Even food cooked while on operational deployment/during exercises and often given packed to soldiers, has always been quite edible.

On the issue of the sahayak, coined by the Brits as “batman”, short for battleman, never did this writer nor his colleagues in the infantry or the armoured corps ever have a problem. Because just as the Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat stated/advised during the pre-Army Day press conference and the Army Day Parade address, any soldier was always asked before being selected and was detailed only if he agreed/had no hassles about doing sahayak’s duties. In almost all cases, the bonds formed between the officer and the sahayak have been life-long memorable.

The Army Chief also warned that those using social media to draw attention to their problems are adversely affecting the soldiers guarding the border and that they could be held guilty and punished.

What emerges from these recent four videos is

(a) their coming one after the other

(b) all four individuals have been disciplinary cases

(c) the timing of these videos happens to be after a spell of Indian Army’s punitive strikes/retaliations across the Line of Control in the Valley, where Pak Army and terrorists supported by it took quite a beating

(d) Interestingly, in Yadav’s friend’s list, there are reportedly a number of Pakistani citizens and

(e) considering (c) and (d), the possibility of Pakistan military/ISI cannot be ruled out.

Also, the fact that these videos were repeatedly aired on TV channels for up to four days continuously, it cannot be put past some pro-Pakistan/ anti-national elements in India, or such oriented political persons being behind this well-coordinated and sensational attempt to show security forces/the ruling government in poor light.

What needs to be undertaken urgently is accessing the friends list of the other three complainants, for all CAPFs, defence and paramilitary forces to clamp down on use of social media and for the government to research and devise means to ensure that social media cannot hold the country to ransom.

Alongside it should be ensured that service conditions for the CRPF are improved.

It gets moved all over the country and is often deployed as widely as its companies being up to a couple of hundred kms away from the battalion headquarters. In last year’s Kashmir riots, it suffered many casualties, including fatal. The government and all armed services must ensure welfare with sufficient entitlements for their personnel.

The writer is a retired Army officer and a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi