New Army Chief announced

Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, the Eastern Army commander, will be the next Army Chief. The formal announcement made on Saturday has put an end to all doubts about who will succeed General V K Singh, thanks to the persistent speculation about Singh’s possible resignation and widespread efforts to stall Lt Gen Bikram Singh’s appointment. Lt Gen Singh was also given the government notification of his appointment. A defence ministry spokesperson announced: “The Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC has been designated the next Chief of Army Staff, in the rank of General, with effect from the afternoon of May 31, 2012. He will succeed the present COAS, Gen V K Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, who retires from the service on May 31, 2012.” The announcement draws to a close acrimonious bids to scuttle Lt Gen Singh’s appointment as the next Army Chief. Several letters did the rounds, hurling various allegations against Lt Gen Singh, who was the Army spokesperson during the 1999 Kargil conflict. Some letters erroneously pointed out that his daughter-in-law was a Pakistani, forcing the MoD to carry out an unusual intelligence verification. It turned out that she was a US citizen with Afghani roots. A PIL was filed recently in the Jammu and Kashmir high court, piloted by a little-known NGO, alleging that Lt Gen Bikram Singh stage-managed an encounter in 2001, in which an innocent bystander was among the many killed. In fact, he was injured in that attack and the J&K Police submitted an affidavit rubbishing fake encounter theories. Both efforts were signs of larger troubles brewing within the Army, which is deeply divided over a variety of issues. Though Gen V K Singh came in with great promise of cleaning up the system, his singular focus on correcting his age record deeply divided the Army, with many not buying the futility of his battle. The aggressive media-driven age battle also led him to lose trust within a section of the government. Perhaps that explains why the Centre announced Lt Gen Singh’s name almost three months before Gen Singh retires. Usually, the announcement is made two months ahead of the incumbent’s retirement. The appointment of Lt Gen Bikram Singh, who was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment on March 31, 1972, also kickstarts a generation of Army chiefs who had not taken part in the 1971 war to liberate Bangladesh.