After the Thai military on Thursday declared it had taken control of the country in what is now a full-blown coup, alarm bells have begun to clang in the Indian security establishment.
The Defence Ministry (MoD) in the evening asked the ministry of external affairs (MEA) to "urgently take a call" on whether the 45 Indian troops currently in Thailand for the bilateral 'Maitree' combat exercise should be recalled. "MEA has to take a decision on the future course of action, and formally advice the MoD. The two-week exercise is scheduled to kick-off from Saturday," said a source.
This came after Thai Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, in a televised address to his country on Thursday, said the military had taken over "in order for the country to return to normality" since rival political factions — basically the so-called "Yellow-Shirts" and "Red-Shirts" — had failed to reach an agreement on governing the Southeast Asian country.
As first reported by TOI, the Indian contingent of three officers, five junior-commissioned officers and 37 soldiers from the 21 Punjab battalion landed in Thailand early on Wednesday morning, bang in the middle of martial law being imposed with soldiers and tanks patrolling the streets of Bangkok. The situation transformed into a coup d'etat on Thursday.
India shares close ties and civilizational links with Thailand, a parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarchy that has witnessed military interventions in the past also.