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Killing ‘fake’ news in the era of landlines

IN 1983-85, I was General Staff Officer Grade One (Operations) at HQ 8 Mountain Division at Zakhama near Kohima.

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Brig Harwant Singh (Retd)  

IN 1983-85, I was General Staff Officer Grade One (Operations) at HQ 8 Mountain Division at Zakhama near Kohima. The division was then mainly responsible for counter-insurgency operations encompassing Nagaland and Manipur and had troops of the Army, Assam Rifles, BSF and CRPF. 

Keeping track of their operations was my main job. In those days there were no mobile phones, we only had landlines and radio for communications. Smuggled cordless phones were just making their faint appearance, but were not used by the Army as they could compromise security. For a smooth communication, I ensured that I was accessible at all times. Accordingly, I had (telephone) lines extended to all places where I could be, including the tennis court and a parallel connection in my bathroom.

On October 31, 1984, the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was shot by her police Sikh guards. Her funeral was telecast live on November 3. As I was watching TV, I got a call that a vehicle of ours was ambushed by the militants near Phek village in Nagaland. There were some fatalities also. Our Sparrow (Signal Officer), Major Gurbakhash Singh, enabled me to get a “running commentary” about the fire-fight and I had all details of the ambush. We did whatever we could in that isolated and mountainous terrain, including sending a helicopter, but to no avail. Since I was in touch, I had details of the dead and the injured. It was a single vehicle in which men of “Band Platoon” of a J&K Rifles Battalion were travelling. Move of a single vehicle was contrary to instructions, but they took a chance and paid for it.

In the afternoon, I got a call from our PRO, Major Sharma, based in Kohima, that there was “news” of a “clash” between Hindu and Sikh troops and that many Sikh troops had allegedly been butchered. He also said “responsible people” like the secretaries to the government and ministers were talking about it. In view of the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi following Indira Gandhi’s murder, rumours had been spreading. In view of the earlier desertions by the troops of some Sikh battalions after Operation Bluestar and their subsequent apprehension by other troops in which some firing did take place, this “news” (of the clash between troops) might have been believed by many. If caught by the media, it would have been “sensational” news for them which would have brought disgrace to the Army, subsequent denials notwithstanding.

I passed on the details, including the names of the killed and wounded, to Major Sharma. None of them, coincidently, was a Sikh. They were all Hindus and Muslims (J&K Rifles have troops from all three communities and the Band Platoon of the said battalion, for uniformity sake, had troops wearing berets only) and the killers were the “underground Naga hostiles” and that the nearest Sikh Battalion was at Shamatore, which was a good 100 km away, so none of the Sikh troops could have been at Phek. I told him to rush to those “responsible persons”, give them exact details and “kill” the rumours floating so that none was published, (fortunately, there were no private TV channels those days).

In the North-East, the sun sets more than an hour earlier than in Delhi; then Bacchus takes over and it is impossible to do any serious business thereafter. Major Sharma must have worked hard and it is a tribute to his “influence” that he did manage to “kill” the rumour. Had there been no continuous “communication” with me, we might have ended up with egg on our face. Thanks “Gimmy”, the “God of (Signals) Communications”, for allowing us to ambush the rumour!

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