Govt shelves plans to build memorial honouring soldiers slain in battle
George Iype in New Delhi
The golden jubilee celebration of India's Independence will commence at midnight on August 14. However, without much participation from the country's armed forces.
The United Front government has shelved a proposal to build a war memorial dedicated to soldiers killed or wounded since 1947.
The official reason for rejecting the proposal is that there is not enough time to build a war memorial before August 15.
Defence ministry sources indicate that top army officers -- including army chief General Shankar Roy-Chowdhury -- are upset by the manner in which the Inder Kumar Gujral government has turned down the only project that the armed forces had recommended for the 50th Independence Day celebrations.
"It is strange that the government has rejected a plan so dear to armymen's hearts," an army officer said, adding that the proposal had been with the government for the last 10 years.
He disclosed that the proposal ran aground due to differences of opinion over the location of the memorial between various members of Prime Minister Gujral's ministry. While Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav wanted the memorial to be built in Uttar Pradesh. others including Home Minister Indrajit Gupta wanted it to be erected in Jammu and Kashmir. Gujral favoured constructing the war memorial in Punjab.
Then, there was a section of senior army officers who were opposed to the idea. They felt "it would result in low morale among soldiers."
Army sources said sharp differences of opinion also existed within the military brass on the nature of the memorial. Some wanted it to be a symbol of India's four wars — three with Pakistan and one with China. Other officers said since the army has lost hundreds of soldiers combating terrorists, the memorial should also be a testimonial to their valour.
While these debates continued, the defence ministry turned down the army's proposal last week, saying it lacked details like the projected financial estimate, location, the number of soldiers killed, wounded and missing etc.
The army has been told to submit a detailed report to the ministry again.
According to army headquarters records, the army has lost 14,646 soldiers since
Independence. Interestingly, 3,187 soldiers were killed during peace time operations -- ranging from Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka, Operation Meghdoot in the Siachen glacier to counter-terrorist and insurgency operations in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states.
The other 11,459 soldiers were either killed or remained missing in action in the four wars that India fought with Pakistan and China. While 1,103 soldiers were killed in the 1947-48 Indo-Pakistan war, 2,902 were killed and 361 went missing in the 1965
Indo-Pak war.
In the 1971 war with Pakistan, 3,630 Indian army men were killed while 213 went MIA. In the India-China war, 1,521 Indian soldiers were killed. However, 1,729 soldiers went MIA in this war.
In addition, more than 22,000 soldiers were wounded in the three-Indo-Pakistan wars and the Sino-India conflict. Nearly 7,000 soldiers were injured during counter-insurgency operations within the country.
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