Post-Kargil military plan forgotten

[Singh]

Post-Kargil military plan forgotten​

New Delhi: The top brass of the Indian military gathered here on Thursday to discuss ways to improve synergy between forces, even as a road map for integrating them, drawn up after the Kargil conflict, lies in tatters.

Eight years after the government accepted the proposal to integrate the commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force into a theatre command and appoint a single-point military advisor to the government called chief of defence staff (CDS), there is no clear sign of a political will to push through the reform.

Defence minister AK Antony asked the military top brass on Thursday "to adopt and further strengthen the tri-services approach", telling them "victory in modern warfare can be achieved only through jointness."

Inaugurating the Unified Commanders' Conference here, he said no one service could secure the nation, as fighting a war today was a complex and highly-skilled business. The theme of the two-day conference is 'Victory through Jointness'.

However, most sources in individual services were sceptical. Navy sources said it was a mistake to hand over the Andaman and Nicobar command to the nation's first, and only, integrated headquarters.

The Integrated Defence Staff, a secretariat in Delhi that was to be the first step towards the appointment of CDS, is partially lost in turf battles between services.The government claims it wants to have political consensus before appointing CDS, but is not pushing for the appointment.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_post-kargil-military-plan-forgotten_1268617