Former Generals of the Indian Army suggest avoiding search operations in Kashmir
“These operations seldom result in any success. In fact, the hardship to people is counter-productive.”
In order to improve the success rate of operations against militants and steer clear of ‘hardship to people’, two retired Generals of the Indian Army have suggested the troops avoid cordon and search operations in Kashmir.
The views were expressed by former Major General Yashpal Singh Mor in a tweet and were acceded to by retired Lieutenant General Harcharanjit Singh Panag, commonly known as H. S. Panag.
Yashpal Singh Mor suggested that the government forces in Kashmir should launch ‘intelligence-based surgical operations’ instead. These operations would help the forces avoid ‘hardships’ to common people and would also improve the success rate of operations against militants.
The Army officer expressed that the frequent search operations by the government forces, including Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force and J&K Police, ‘seldom result in any success’ and the ‘hardship’ to people proves ‘counter-productive.’
“Excellent gesture. Must avoid CASO, these operations seldom result in any success, in fact the hardship to the people is counter productive. Intelligence based surgical operations by Small Teams is the way to go,” tweeted the former Major General of Indian Army, Yashpal Singh Mor.
The former Indian Army officer had retweeted a story from a national daily, The Hindu, which had reported that Army suspended a cordon and search operation in Kralkhud village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on March 6 because an 11-year-old girl was reported unwell in the area under siege.
Yashpal Singh Mor’s views found support from another retired Lieutenant General H S Panag, who replied, “I concur”.
It is worthwhile to mention that Major General Yashpal Singh Mor has served in Kashmir and Punjab. In Kashmir, he commanded the Indian Army’s Rashtriya Rifles wing and is was awarded a Sena Medal for his anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir.
The officer retired in September 2020 as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Ladakh Headquarters.
While H S Panag is a retired Lieutenant General of the Indian Army. He is presently a Defence Analyst and commentator on strategic affairs. A proponent of the use of robotics by Indian armed forces, he is very active on social media, particularly Twitter.
