[sacw] [ACT] IPARMW No.9 (25 Jan 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

India Pak Arms Race & Militarisation Watch No.9
25 January 2000
----------------------------
[1.]
The Hindu
News Update as at 20.00 hrs (IST) on January 24, 2000
DEFENCE MINISTRY [GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ] WEBSITE LAUNCHED

New Delhi, Jan. 24. (PTI): The Defence Ministry today launched its
website to provide information regarding its activities. The
website, http://mod.nic.in was launched by the Defence Secretary, an
official statement said here.
It comprises nine modules containing brief information about all three
departments of the Ministry, Indian Armed Forces, recruitment and
training, resettlement and welfare schemes, activities of
inter-services organisations, associated institutions and
assistance to civil authorities by the armed forces, the release said.

The website also contains seven sub-modules which provide
information on press releases and announcements made from time to time,
open tenders floated by the Ministry and related sites such as those of
Indian Armed Forces and Defence Research and Development
Organisation, it added.
------
[2.]

The Khaleej Times
25 Jan 00

Discontent in [India's] armed forces

NEW DELHI - While democracies all over the world have soldiers taking part
in all decisions pertaining to operations, in India their absence among the
decision makers seems to be brewing discontent and demoralisation in the
forces.

Several serving and retired soldiers have expressed resentment over this
obstructionist attitude of bureaucracy in operational matters, and hold
them responsible for delaying modernisation of the army.

The bureaucracy has been a major instrument in delay or killing some good
proposals for the modernisation of the armed forces and the obstructionist
attitude of the ministry of defence (MoD) is generating a feeling of
neglect among the top brass of the defence service, says a senior defence
official who requests anonymity.

Modernisation and upgradation skills are not deterrent enough and since
the last 10 years there have been several indications to reveal that Indian
army was not modernising and the Kargil aggression was a result of this,
says Air Vice-Marshal (Retd) Kapil Kak.

Kargil conflict, the longest border engagement between India and Pakistan
since 1971, has exposed the failure of defence planning and procurement
that has developed over the 30 year of peace and underlined the need for
the political class and bureaucracy to give more considerate hearing to the
needs of the armed forces.

The senior defence official says the MoD officials do not understand the
basic need of the army and the equipment sought t_________o be procured.

Perhaps the casualties on the Indian side would have been fewer in Kargil
had our soldiers been properly equipped with latest mountain warfare
gadgets, he says. There were gaps in the surveillance system also and the
communication systems were mostly of World War II vintage, he claims.

There is no reason why the armed forces should not be involved in the
decision making mechanisms, especially relating to the areas which directly
affect their work efficiency and performance on and off the battle front,
the senior army officer asks.

During the 50 years of India's existence as a free nation, the British
legacy-based systems for decision making, planning and direction may have
contributed to stability but a long-term focus, closer coordination,
integration, cost-efficiency and elimination of ad-hocism have not been
attained.

Numerous past efforts in this direction have been stymied by inertia,
resistance to change, organisational lobbying, perhaps some apathy of the
services establishment itself but, most importantly, due to bureaucracy's
misplaced apprehensions on institutionalised change serving to erode its
power base, says Air Vice-Marshal Kak, a senior fellow at the Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

Prominent defence analyst P.R. Chari, though advocates radical reforms
in decision making apparatus, says that in no democracy can the armed
forces be allowed to function independently.

Basic and fundamental reforms should be made in the decision making
process since the ultimate aim is national security, says Mr Chari, who
retired as additional defence secretary, ministry of defence.

Conceding that delays in implementing the proposals do happen, Mr Chari
says "we have three water-tight compartments in the decision making
apparatus...the entire proposal for buying equipment has to be finalised in
the service headquarters and the file comes to MoD from where it is moved
to the ministry of finance. The financial constraints of the government
will delay it further.

"So the entire procedure is such the implementation tends to delay," he
noted.

It is strange but true that there is not a single officer in uniform in
the MoD unlike the American set up where the services of defence personnel
are utilised extensively for enriching the quality of decision making. In
the UK, the defence and overseas policy committee and in France the
committee of national defence carry out the decision making process.

Interestingly, no civil servant is a member of any of these committees or
councils.

China's national security and defence policy structures are not openly
explained or articulated while Russia has a full-fledged national national
security council that prepares alternative choices for final decision by
the president.

Air Vice-Marshal Kak says the unjustified and wasteful bureaucratic
control in which civil servants exercise unlimited authority over the armed
forces has caused the existing disjunction to persist for decades.

Though a number of high-level committees like the Nawab Ali Yawar Jang
Committee, Mishra Committee and a parliamentary subcommittee had
recommended redressal of this imbalance, it could not be implemented due to
the turf protection syndrome of the officials manning the MoD.

Integration of service headquarters with the MoD and their re-designation
as department of the army, navy and airforce under their chiefs would
achieve multiple gains, says Air Vice-Marshal Kak.

Apart from creating an integrated approach, politico-military
considerations would be rendered more comprehensive and objective with
military representation in the decision making loop, he says.

As the existing higher defence control structures are so well armoured
by precedent and military bureaucratic resistance, this extraordinarily
important change could be the first step towards an incremental
restructuring, Air Vice-Marshal Kak suggests.

The present decision_ making body has been ducking too many primary
issues and buying time though the army has been cryng we are losing out
cutting edge in our defence preparedness.

"Don't think all are fools in the MoD and have no expertise. There may be
officials at the very senior level who are shifted in and out with little
knowledge about the need of armed forces but, at the same time, there are
officials who have been there for long who can take right decisions," Mr
Chari says. Efforts have to be taken to cultivate expertise at the highest
civilian official level in the ministry, he says.

The Administrative Reforms Commission report during the tenure of former
prime minister Morarji Desai had suggested a defence management service to
address this issue but it never took off. "At the dawn of the 21st century
with the complex nature of the strategic environment, management of
integrated application of diplomatic and military components of state power
would prove a daunting prospect unless the decision making system is
restructured and refined." - PTI

------
[3.]
Source: Federation of American Scientists

PAKISTAN AIR FORCE BASES

=46or the time being it appears that the credibility of Pakistan's nuclear
deterrent depends not on its limited-range missiles, but on the
survivability of its strike aircraft. There are roughly 30 airfields at
which Pakistani nuclear-equiped aircraft could be based, vastly
complicating Indian counterforce attack planning.
* Major Operational Bases are fully functional bases from which aircraft
operate during peacetime.
* Forward Operational Bases are active during peacetime and become
fully operational during wartime.
* Satellite bases are used for emergency landing and recovery of
aircraft during both peacetime and wartime.

Airbase Locale Type Squadron Command Aircraft
AC #
PAF Bhagtanwala sat
PAF Chaklala MOB
PAF Chander sat
PAF Chuk Jhumra sat
PAF Faisal Karachi MOB
PAF Gwadar sat
PAF Kohat sat
PAF Lahore Lahore FOB
PAF Masroor MOB No. 16 Squadron A-5 30
MOB No. 26 Squadron
A-5 30
PAF Mianwali MOB
PAF Minhas Kamra MOB
PAF Mirpur Khas FOB
PAF Multan Multan FOB
PAF Murid FOB
PAF Nawabshah FOB
PAF Ormara sat
PAF Pasni FOB
PAF Peshawar Peshawar MOB
PAF Rafiqui Shorkot MOB
PAF Rahim Yar Khan sat
PAF Rajanpur sat
PAF Risalewala FaisalabadFOB
PAF Risalpur MOB
PAF Samungli Quetta MOB
PAF Sargodha Sargodha MOB
PAF Shahbaz JacobabadFOB
PAF Sindhri sat
PAF Sukkur FOB
PAF Talhar FOB
PAF Vihari FOB

SOURCE:
* PAF Bases PAF Organization & Structure Pakistan Institute for Air
Defence Studies

------
[4.]

Jane's Defence Weekly,
January 19, 2000, Vol. 33; No. 3
ASIA PACIFIC

In Brief - UK CDS holds talks with Pakistan
-----
[5.]

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION,
January 18, 2000,

Rush to make film of Indian Airlines hijacking

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////=
///
'India Pak Arms Race & Militarisation Watch' (IPARMW)
is a joint initiative of South Asia Citizens Web and
South Asians Against Nukes
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////=
//
=01