General Bipin Rawat, the Chief of Defence Staff, held a marathon meeting on Thursday to allay the concerns of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force about upcoming military theatre commands, and professionally addressed all of the tri-services’ concerns. During his Independence Day speech this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce significant changes and reforms to the military architecture.
General Rawat held a five-hour meeting with three service chiefs, vice chiefs, and integrated defence staff officers above the rank of major general and equivalent on July 22 to explain the proposed military theatre commands with a vision to synergize military operations for rapid response to future conflicts. China, India’s main military adversary, has already reorganised its military into theatre commands and is now assisting Pakistan’s client in shedding its imperial legacy and reforming its military. While India faces the Western Theatre Command in Chengdu on its northern border along the LAC, Pakistan has deployed only the XI Corps in Peshawar and the XII Corps in Quetta.
According to South Block sources, Gen Rawat met with the military chiefs on the advice of defence minister Rajnath Singh, who wanted all of the tri-services’ legitimate concerns to be noted and valid ones addressed before the military theatre commands were announced. The meeting on Thursday was the second on the topic, with the Modi government on the verge of announcing the maritime theatre command and the air defence command. Furthermore, due to illegal land claims by both Pakistan and China over UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, three land commands will be announced next year, with the western theatre command solely handling the Pakistan border and the eastern theatre command solely handling the Tibet-China border, with the northern command handling both borders separately.
The military theatre commands process is proceeding smoothly, according to South Block officials, with Gen Rawat fielding all questions from the three service chiefs. While the future (now for more than two decades) lies in jointmanship and synergy among the three services, the three services are concerned about their respective turfs and fiefdoms, with the service chief’s power reduced to procurement and training, as is the case with theatre commands. The theatre commander will be in charge of operations, with all three services working together to defeat the enemy.
The three services are concerned about the division of military assets and the primary role of the permanent chairman of the Chief of Staffs Committee (COSC) in wartime conditions, despite the Narendra Modi government’s decision to move towards theatre commands. The commanders of the military theatre commands will report directly to the chairman, COSC, who will task them based on the advice of the military chiefs or committee members.
