“Reviewing injustices in the military”
I came across the post-editorial bearing the above title in your daily dated 16 July 2009. The writer is Brig-Gen. (Retd.) Shahed Anam. I quite appreciate the concern expressed by him. To a certain extent I accept that in numerous cases actions have been taken on whims or mere hearsay, not even bothering to listen to the other side.
I would like to add that in the old King's Regulation which regulated the conduct of King's commissioned officers, there is a clause stating:-
"The Crown reserves the right to dispense with the services of any officer without assigning any reason."
I understand that during the British period this clause used to be judiciously and rarely used. This clause was meant to deal with officers who acted far below the required mark, especially during operations, and early dispensation was necessary to maintain the standard.
After 1947 both India and Pakistan retained the above clause in their MIML and MPML respectively with only replacing the words "The Crown" by the words "The Central Government". Bangladesh followed suit. In Pakistan this legal provision has been widely used and still being used. In Bangladesh it is being exhaustibly applied. It has been observed that the criterion regarding removal from service and/or awarding promotion etc. has changed with the political party in power. There has been interesting instances of officers being promoted to the rank of Major General and released or retired on the same day or the day following. However, the above clause does not empower "Dismissal" which must follow legal process and specific offence. In 1973 quite a number of repatriated officers, who happened to be located in then East Pakistan, but did not or could not join the Liberation War in 1971 found themselves summarily dismissed. On appeal to Bangabandhu either individually or collectively, their cases ware converted into retirement.
Promotion in all services must be according to service rules coupled with performance reports and efficiency. All service personnel are loyal to the country and the government in power. Alliance and obedience to any political party should not be the criterion.
In the developed democratic countries, even in India, promotion and removal of officers are strictly according to service rules. After their disastrous experience in 1962, I think politicians in India stopped meddling in service affairs.
Instead of trying to look into the injustices of the past, the political govt. should ensure that except for service code, no extraneous consideration, should be made in the career-development and promotions of service personnel. Digging into the past will keep on repeating with the change of political govt. No one should consider that they are here for eternity.
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