CAFE
COM:PORT
CHAT JOCKEYS
EVENTS

The Lt General K S Brar Chat

Aarti>> Thank you for your question. If you feel it is a shame to retire as a Lt General, I have no comments to offer. One goes up the chain of command through merit, but one also must understand that he has to retire at the age of superannuation. At the time of my retirement, I was an army commander, commanding the Eastern Theatre of India, looking after the borders with China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and also responsible for the defense of Bhutan. At the same time, I was deeply involved in counter-insurgency operations in our North Eastern disturbed areas. These were all difficult tasks to perform, but I got tremendous satisfaction and had no regrets. Where was the question of becoming the army chief when there already was one, and my date of superannuation arose?

Let us discuss the army operations since: the battle on the Siachen glacier, Operation Bluestar, the IPKF operation. Except for the first operation, the other two were covered in ignominy. How come?

hello General, I read your response about the eastern front, I would like to know what was the scene at the western front that time?

I am not saying it was a shame. What I mean is that an officer of your calibre retired without having an opportunity to impart your vision for the Indian army. Why should the Indian army need to lose out on that vision?

Jaswant>> I won the Vir Chakra for the action that my battalion fought at Jabalpur on the night of 10/11 December 1971. It was an all night battle against 31st Baluch of the Pak army in which the enemy launched continuous attacks against my battalion which had entrenched itself in its rear. We had to move to our location across the river Brahmaputra, where no bridges existed. And therefore, we were able to carry only limited weapons and ammo on a man-pack basis. We were without artillery support. Despite this, my battalion was able to beat back each and every attack launched against us by the enemy and it involved my having to move during the midst of battle across my defences to motivate my troops to continue the fight despite having run out of ammo. As a result, the entire battalion of the enemy was almost decimated. The award was given to me for having personally moved from company to company in the midst of battle disregarding my personal safety and ensuring success.

Balraman>> I have read this report too, but I do not have adequate information on the authenticity of the report.

Hello! Great to speak to you. Sorry I am late

Hello Gen Brar, I'm speaking from Canada, I wanted to know about the morale of the Indian army? Secondly with the brain drain isn't it true that we don't have the necessary kind of brain power muvch needed in the army?

Hello Gen Brar, I'm speaking from Canada, I wanted to know about the morale of the Indian army? Secondly with the brain drain isn't it true that we don't have the necessary kind of brain power muvch needed in the army?

History will not forgive you, Sir, for Amritsar, 1984. I know you are a soldier, you need to carry out your orders. But how could you execute such a poor plan? K P S Gill did a better job with Black Thunder four years later!

hello General, I read your response about the eastern front, I would like to know what was the scene at the western front that time?

Let us discuss the army operations since: the battle on the Siachen glacier, Operation Bluestar, the IPKF operation. Except for the first operation, the other two were covered in ignominy. How come?

The Indian amry, I hear from folks back home, is in crisis. How can we attract the best and brightest of Indian men to the army? Why should they drift towards more paying professions?

Jaswant>> AS regards the three most important factors responsible for India's victory in the war, I would attribute it to, firstly, good junior leadership and a highly motivated and well trained cadre of soldiers - in fact, one of the major factors which one can attribute to Pakistan's defeat is the fact that despite the troops being excellent, the leadership provided to them by the officers was very poor because the Pak leadership had over the years had a taste of power and lust. The second factor which attributed to our success is that our Air Force was able to gain complete freedom of action in the air by knocking out the Pak air bases at the very outset ofthe war. This gave the ground troops tremendous help in achieving their objectives. The third major factor is the fact that the Pak forces were literally trapped and left to fend for themselves without any support from the then West Pakistan.

AArti>> regarding your question about Gen Maneckshaw, there can be no doubt about the fact that his generalship was brilliant. His flamboyant personality and his audacity in battle are well known - he having won a Military Cross in World War II. he is also the type of leader who motivates his soldiers through personal example. However, to say that it was only because of him that India won the war would be incorrect. There were many other generals and senior officers who need to be given credit for the final outcome, as it is always a collective action rather than an individualistic one that wins the war.

Gen: If there is another India-Pakistan War what will happen? Who will win? Can you give me the exact scenario of the implications of such a war on a global and national scale??

Jaswant>> I can assure you that the last thing we wanted to do was to cause death and destruction in the action at Amritsar. There is no question of there having been any enemy. In fact, it was an action which no solider would like to be drawn into. BUt circumstances at that point of time forced the army to intervene, as the extremists had literally taken over the holy Golden Temple and converted it to a fortress, challenging the authority of the Indian government. I do not think any government in the world would permit a situation to go out of hand, and it had to be controlled at some stage. It is unfortunate that there were so many casualties, as well as destruction, which we tried to avoid to the maximum. I am a Sikh myself, and I can assure you that there was no indiscriminate killing during the operation, and at all times our endeavour was to save life and property.

Sir, what we hear is that Indian Army is fighting a proxy war in Kashmir against the terrorists. What are your views about this, Is this the factor for the low morale of the Indian Army right now??

History will not forgive you, Sir, for Amritsar, 1984. I know you are a soldier, you need to carry out your orders. But how could you execute such a poor plan? K P S Gill did a better job with Black Thunder four years later!

Generalsaheb,never have three better officers been in charge of an operation as they were at Amritsar twelve years back. Gen Vaidya, Gen Sundarji and you. In fact, both you and Gen Sunderji look like brothers in the PIB pictures of that time. How could the three of you goofed as much?

Do you think the Bangladeshis were ungrateful towards India, despite all what we did for them? Or did you evcen then suspect that this would happen?

Photographs: Jewella Miranda