In a shocking revelation of facts, the Ministry of Defence revealed on Monday that when Assam was burning due to ethnic violence last month, the bureaucrats sitting in South and North Blocks separated just by a road delayed the deployment of the Army by following archaic rules and doing cumbersome paper work.
Explaining the inordinate delay in deploying Army in riot-hit Assam when the toll was mounting, the State Government passed the buck to the Defence Ministry by merely sending a request by fax on July 21, which being a Saturday, the staff at the South Block completed its duty by asking for an "assessment report" from the Army, losing precious three days.
"State government of Assam requested the MoD through a fax on 21 July 2012 (Saturday) evening for deployment of Army in Kokrajhar. The MoD on learning of the request sought the assessment of the situation from the Army as they were already in deployment for counter-insurgency duties in Assam," Defence Minister AK Antony said in a written reply to the Parliament on Monday.
Even as the mandarins in the South Block were sitting on the request for deployment, 53 people were killed in Assam with maximum casualties and rioting happening between July 21 and 24.Despite repeated requisition from the local administration in Assam, the Army refused force deployment in absence of the Defence Ministry's approval, mandatory as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) laid down nearly two decades ago. The Defence Ministry also did not spring into action until the state government faxed a second request on July 24th for deployment of Army in aid to civil authorities in the districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang. This was also followed by a request from MHA.
"MHA on 24 July 2012 requested for deployment of Army. MoD issued directions for deployment of Army in aid to civil authorities on the same day," Antony added.
Sources reveal that there has been a complete laxity from all the stakeholders – the state government, the MoD and the MHA. "All the three failed miserably to assess the urgency of the situation. In the age of telecommunication the state government was busy sending faxes to the Defence Ministry even on a Saturday when the Ministry functions on a lean staff. The more proactive measure would have been the Chief Minister, Home Minister and the Defence Minister being in touch with each other from the day one," sources in the armed forces said.
Eventually on July 25, the Army was deployed, and what ensued was the blame game between the State government and the Home Ministry in one camp and the Defence Ministry on the other.
