Indian Army HQ asked to explain posting of brigadier

Official was removed after Uri attack; explanation sought by defence ministry

NEW DELHI: The Defence Ministry has sought an explanation from the Army Headquarters after it quietly gave a plum posting to a Brigadier removed from command after 19 soldiers were killed under his watch during the Uri terrorist attack two months ago.

Indian media reported that Brigadier K Somashankar was appointed commander of the 61 Infantry Brigade in a hush-hush manner, a month after he was removed as the 12 Brigade commander in Uri where the Indian Army witnessed the biggest ever massacre of its troops.

A senior government official said: 'After the development was brought to the notice of the Defence Ministry, the Army Headquarters was asked as to how the Brigadier was appointed again when investigations into the massacre by the National Investigation Agency is still on and even the Army Court of Inquiry was not submitted to the Ministry, and why such favours are being shown to that particular officer'.

Sources said that the Army Headquarters told the ministry that the career of such officers under whose command such massacres take place is considered virtually finished, but Somashankar was being given his due tenure of 15-18 months as he could have moved court against the force.

The Army is learnt to be of the view that if inquiries by it and the NIA don't find any wrong-doing on part of the officer, then he could have taken the force to court. 

However, sources said the Army was not very forthcoming on how it would avoid an embarrassment if he is found guilty of lapses and has to be removed from command again.

The force has denied any wrongdoing in the matter. Brigadiers in the Indian Army have a tenure of 15-18 months as the head of a fighting formation and this can be reduced or extended as per requirement.

Somashankar was first removed from the command of 12 Brigade on October 2, but was quietly reinstated as commander of 61 Brigade on November 8 in Ranchi as part of a Strike Corps formation.

Both the NIA and Army are both probing the loopholes and the attack at Uri. When asked about his appointment, Somashankar had said his posting as the 61 Brigade commander was an 'internal matter of the Army' and 'not illegal'.

Army officials Mail Today spoke to said the reinstatement is legally permissible, but as per tradition, officers under whose command security lapses take place, are shown the door and removed from leadership roles.

One of the biggest examples was Air Marshal Vinod Bhatia, who flew his transport plane towards Pakistan and paid for it by losing the chance to head the Indian Air Force after the Kargil war.

More recently, a Brigadier dealing with sensitive missile units had to quit after his orderly was found to be leaking official documents.

A colonel-rank officer of a military intelligence unit is currently attached to the Nabha-based 1 Armoured Division due to administrative lapses, as a clerk of his unit was accused of stealing information.

A serving major general-rank officer has also been sidelined as under his command, jawans had fired on a car as the youth driving it refused to stop.

Army sources said Somashankar had been shifted out of the sensitive brigade till investigations were completed by the NIA and Army, and replaced by a young officer from the 28 Mountain Division.