Experts warn against ignoring history

Ajay Banerjee

In June last year, the Ministry of Defence announced a new policy on archiving, declassification, compilation and publication of histories of wars and operations carried out by the Indian armed forces.

Almost 18 months later, no decision has been taken to de-classify any of the already published histories of the 1962, 1965 and the 1971 wars, published by the ministry’s History Division in the 1990s.

Official histories not released

• October-November 1962 India-China War
• September 1965 Indo-Pak war
• December 1971 Indo-Pak war Released
• Official War History of the 1947-48 Kashmir war with Pakistan (in 1989)
• The Kargil Review Committee Report on the May-July 1999 Kargil War (in 2000)

The Difficult ones to tackle

• Operation Pawan (IPKF in Sri Lanka, 1987-1990)
• Operation Cactus in Maldives (1988)
• Operation Bluestar (Golden Temple, 1984)
• Operation Meghdoot (Siachen, 1984)

Tragically, these are not owned up as 'official histories.' Each of the books on the 1971 and the 1965 wars with Pakistan carry a caveat by the History Division's Director, Dr SN Prasad: "I don't consider this as an account of proper history." In case of the publication of the account of the 1962 war with China, Dr Prasad has a caveat: "I accept responsibility for the facts and stated opinions expressed, which do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of India and do not commit it ( Govt) in any way."

All three publications are for "restricted circulation" and are available only at select libraries of the armed forces.

New policy does not change much

Only the published account of the India-Pak war in 1948 have been made public so far. Accounts of other full-blown wars and operations. Despite the policy, declassification of records or histories of older wars like the 1962 war with China will not be automatic and will be taken up on a case-to-case basis by a committee with members from the three services, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs.

This means that access to records of Operation Meghdoot (Siachen), Operation Pawan (Sri Lanka), Operation Cactus (Maldives) and Operation Falcon (Arunachal Pradesh) in the mid-1980s will not be made public immediately. The same applies to Operation Bluestar - it could have a political fallout.

How does the policy function

It mandates the History Division to publish an official account of operations within five years after completion after seeking due approval. Operational records are required to be vetted for declassification by organisations concerned.

Each organisation under the MoD such as the Services, Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles and Indian Coast Guard, will transfer records, including war diaries, operational proceedings, etc. to the History Division for compiling and archiving.

The need of having war histories written with clear cut policy on de-classification was recommended by the Kargil Review Committee headed by K Subrahmanyam.

In January 2001 a special committee headed by former Defence Secretary, NN Vohra, and comprising Lt Gen Satish Nambiar (retd), a former Deputy Chief of the Army and Dr SN Prasad, recommended the release of the three war ( 1962, 1965 and 1971) histories in their original form.

Post-Kargil, Group of Ministers’ recommendations on national security also mentioned the desirability of authoritative war history to accurate account of the events for academic research and to counter the unfounded rumours.

What the west has done

The UK and US have a strong tradition of commissioning studies and histories. The British, in 2010, got an official history written of the M-I6, their external intelligence agency. In India, former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, B Raman's book, The Kaoboys of R&AW', is the most authoritative account of some events of the 1970's and 1980's. The UK ordered a public inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war of 2003. The report was made public for debate and discussion.

The US had a Vietnam Study Task Force which produced a history of the US' involvement and is now referred to as Pentagon Papers. In 2017, the Central Intelligence Agency of US declassified files of the 1960's and 1970's and told how the US was looking for evidence that Indian troops had invaded East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in early December 1971.