Operational preparedness on the eastern and northern front facing China and situation in Jammu & Kashmir will figure prominently during the five-day Army Commanders’ conference here beginning April 21. The top brass will also review pace of modernisation and induction of state-of-art weapons systems to fight conventional war in a network centric environment.
With the Government giving the nod last year for raising China-specific mountain strike corps, the commanders will take stock of its progress, officials said here on Wednesday. The strike corps will have 40,000 personnel specially trained to fight in mountains in Arunachal Pradesh and ladakh region. Expected to cost nearly `70,000 crore, the corps is expected to be functional in the next seven years and will be equipped with long range artillery guns, howitzers, attack helicopters and air support by fighter jets of IAF.
The conference to be inaugurated by Defence Minister AK Antony on April 21, will also review measures taken by the Army as regards Border Defence Co-operation Agreement(BDCA) with China inked in Septembers last year during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing.
The pact aims to ensure tranquility at line of Actual Control(lAC) and avoid face-offs between the two armies by resolving issues at the local commander level. Transgressions by China into India increased last year leading to a 20-day stand-off between the two armies in Depsang Valley, ladakh. It led to furore in Parliament and the issue was resolved after intervention at the highest diplomatic and political level of two countries.
Incidentally, Chinese Director General of Military Operations(DGMO) will hold two-day talks with his Indian counterpart starting April 22 where two officials will explore possibility of having a hot line between the two DGMOs. The proposed hotline was part of BDCA to address any operational issue like face-offs at DGMO level. India and Pakistan have a similar hotline and two DGMOs talk to each other once a week.
Besides these issues, the Commanders’ Conference will take stock of security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The state will see five-phase lok Sabha polls and security establishment fears rise in violence levels targeting candidates and terrorising voters. The commanders will also review its readiness to handle likely spurt in infiltration bids from across the line of Control(lOC) in the next two to three months.
Upgradation and modernization of army to fight conventional war 24X7 will also come for discussion as delay in procurement of some critical weapon systems has caused concern. In fact, the then Army chief General VK Singh two years back in a letter to the Prime Minister listed shortage of ammunition, artillery guns and specialised weapons for Special Forces.