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2010-04-05 India-Pakistan

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Posted by Steve White 2010-04-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 Under the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan gets 80% of the water. Nehru believed this concession would foster friendship.

Posted by john frum 2010-04-05 10:17|| 2010-04-05 10:17|| Front Page Top

#2 Not the only thing he was wrong about. But I'd bet he is still revered in India.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2010-04-05 10:55|| 2010-04-05 10:55|| Front Page Top

#3 Not by everyone

From an article by Wing Commander (retd) R V Parasnis...

Soon after Independence the first commander-in-chief of the Indian armed forces, General Sir Robert Lockhart, presented a paper outlining a plan for the growth of the Indian Army to Prime Minister Nehru.

Nehru's reply: "We don't need a defence plan. Our policy is non-violence. We foresee no military threats. You can scrap the army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs."

He didn't waste much time. On September 16, 1947, he directed that the army's then strength of 280,000 be brought down to 150,000. Even in fiscal 1950-51, when the Chinese threat had begun to loom large on the horizon, 50,000 army personnel were sent home as per his original plan to disband the armed forces.

After Independence, he once noticed a few men in uniform in a small office the army had in North Block, and angrily had them evicted.

Soon after Independence he separated the army, navy, and air force from a unified command and abolished the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces, thus bringing down the status of the seniormost military chief.

He continued to demote the status of the three service chiefs at irregular intervals in the order of precedence in the official government protocol, a practice loyally continued by successive governments to the benefit of politicians and bureaucrats.

During the 1947-48 war with Pakistan in Kashmir, Nehru interfered with purely military decisions at will, which delayed the war and changed the ultimate outcome in Pakistan's favour. He developed a precedent to violate channels and levels of communications at that time. His penchant for verbal orders to the various army commanders, of which he kept no records, violated the chain of command.

After the defeat inflicted by China, Nehru who honestly believed in India-Chinese brotherhood was shell shocked. He died a short while later.

"I remember many a time when our senior generals came to us, and wrote to the defence ministry saying that they wanted certain things... If we had had foresight, known exactly what would happen, we would have done something else... what India has learnt from the Chinese invasion is that in the world of today there is no place for weak nations... We have been living in an unreal world of our own creation."
- Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajya Sabha, 1963

Posted by john frum 2010-04-05 13:02|| 2010-04-05 13:02|| Front Page Top

#4 ION TOPIX > CHINA CLAIMS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR MEKONG RIVER EXHAUSTION + PROLONGED DROUGHT DAMAGING FOOD CROPS IN ASIA.

* IIRC SAME > LACK OF WATER THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE [bloody] DARFUR CONFLICT?

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-04-05 22:27|| 2010-04-05 22:27|| Front Page Top

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