Modi government compromises security of military cantonments

Military veterans are up in arms again. This time it is not OROP (one rank one pension) but tremendous resentment against opening of cantonment roads to the general public ordered by MoD (Ministry of Defence) recently. While many veterans have taken to the social media, quite a few senior officers have expressed their views against the order in both print and electronic media. Even WhatsApp Groups of veterans were flooded by comments of former service officers, especially from Army, strongly condemning the Modi government.

In a strongly worded letter to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, an ex Lieut General, who retired as commandant of Army College wrote: “You definitely do not remember the Kalu Chak massacre of 2002? Soldier in peace stations are there not for rest and relief. They train for war, night and day. As also, when they are doing physical training and other routine activities they are highly vulnerable. They are also the soft targets as the anti-national elements would get resounding press should they cause any harm to any personnel or building located in a military station than causing harm to civilians outside. It is for these reasons the cantonments were established in the first place. Hence, the security of the military establishments and cantonments has always been left to local commanders as they have the responsibility to safeguard their command. This responsibility cannot be abdicated to anyone else, as they are legally, morally and constitutionally mandated to fulfill their sacred duty. No RM (Raksha Mantri) or anyone can take that away from them “

Cantonments derive their names from Swiss cantons and were set up by the British on the outskirts of cities and townships to lodge their troops, horses and equipment. When British troops arrived in India they often fell sick due to heat, malaria, dysentery and water borne diseases. It was therefore decided to create cantonments away from cities, yet not too far for administrative convenience for accommodating and administering the troops. Green belts were preferred and open spaces created for training, sports, field firing and other profession related activities.

Though the first recorded cantonment was established in Barrackpore (W.B.) in 1765, the first officially notified Army cant is Meerut which came up in 1805, six decades before the first war of independence. Since independence 62 cantonments, spread over an area of 1.5 lakh acres, have been notified, apart from a number of military stations. These military stations, unlike the cantonments, are exclusively for military use and the latest MoD order does not apply to them. The Central Command, with 25 Cantonments has the highest number of cantonments followed by 19 in Southern Command. The Northern Command has only one Cantonment as most of its troops, not on the border, are accommodated in military stations. Over and above the serving Defence personnel, a number of separated families live in cantonments. These are the families of soldiers serving in border/field areas who come home only once/twice a year.

What is most surprising is the fact that the MoD order has come after there have been a number of enemy attacks in cantonment areas during the last two decades, especially since 2014. The terrorist strike at Sunjuwan cantonment on 9 Feb, 2018 is too recent to be forgotten so soon. India faces many security challenges, yet when it come to security of its own installations and infrastructure lessons learnt from previous lapses are completely ignored. As a former head of India’s Defence intelligence recently remarked: ‘Otherwise, how can anyone explain the order promulgated a few days ago by the ministry of defence (MoD) to open up all roads in army cantonments for unrestricted civilian traffic movement? The powers-that-be have opened the floodgates for terror strikes and lawlessness inside cantonments, which till today have been a haven of security for those who guard this nation and the prohibitively expensive equipment they have. Apparently, political expediency and votebank considerations have overridden basic security considerations.’

Obviously the MoD has issued the order under pressure from MPs/MLAs whose constituencies fall within limits of many cantonments. Also over the years the civilian population in cantonments has grown manifold. But all these civilians, with their shops/business establishments, are issued passed which are renewed every year and there exists a complete harmony between the military and civil relationships. Undoubtedly, some inconvenience is being caused to civilians in a few of the cantonments, Pune and Secunderabad amongst them, but these can be resolved locally by the cantonment boards. Each cantonment board has duly elected civilian members, but the presiding officer is always the station/formation commander, a serving officer of the Army. These cantonment boards have been functioning efficiently and there is no reason to doubt that they can easily remove minor irritants that crop up from time to time. Certainly a few more roads/areas can be opened to civilian traffic while ensuring that the overall security of the Defence establishment, especially weapons, ammunition and families of soldiers, is not compromised.

The Defence Minister must, therefore, rescind the MoD order which was issued under pressure from political leaders and let each cantonment board deal with the issue on the merits of each case within its jurisdiction. This is the only way to keep the matter a political without disturbing the environment and harmony that prevails within the cantonments for over a century.

The writer, an ex Army Officer, is a former Member, National Commission for Minorities and a political analyst