Ex-Army Chief Gen V N Sharma, who stood firm during 1987 Wangdung crisis, dies at 96

In an interview to Maj Gen Nilendra Kumar on YouTube for the channel ‘Lex Consilium Foundation’ in 2025, Gen Sharma said the Army Headquarters has laid down a limit of patrolling on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) because they did not want to provoke a war with the Chinese. “This limit was 15 km as set by Rajiv Gandhi’s Government. Narhari had already moved ahead and occupied the next ridgeline below Thag La ridge. It was one of his battalions which had fired a machine gun over the heads of the Chinese,” he said.

According to Gen Sharma, even before he had officially taken over as the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen Narahari called him up and said that if his troops move behind as per the limit set by Army HQs, then another two ridge lines will fall to the Chinese and his units may not be able to take them back.

“As Commandant, College of Combat, I had organised a war game in which we had war-gamed potential Chinese plans. I had visited Narahari’s Corps at the time and flew over the entire area in question in a helicopter, including the places where the Chinese had made an ingress. So I straightaway gave the orders, ‘no withdrawal’,” he said.

‘Go to Supreme Court, check if it is lawful’

When this order was relayed to Army HQs, Gen Sharma got a call from the then Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Bipin Joshi, who later became the Army Chief. “He said, ‘Sir, you are disobeying the orders of the Government of India’. So I said, ‘This is not disobedience of orders; your orders themselves are incorrect. Under the Army Act, I am only supposed to obey the lawful command of the superior officer’. Then the Chief (Gen K Sundarji) called me up and said, ‘This is ridiculous’. I said, ‘Go to the Supreme Court and check if it is lawful’. Supreme Court has to decide whether I should defend my border or listen to the idiocy of the Rajiv Gandhi government to say that this is limited patrolling when the enemy is advancing. Make up your mind: Is the McMohan line correct or not correct,” he said.

The strong military response by India in the crisis eventually led to the standoff getting resolved, and the armies of the two countries moved back under mutual agreement.

Orderly withdrawal of IPKF

As Army Chief, Gen Sharma oversaw the orderly withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) from Sri Lanka. “Along with then Naval Chief, we planned to send a flotilla along with an aircraft carrier which conducted exercises off the coast of Sri Lanka to send a message to President Premadasa of Sri Lanka who was in cahoots with LTTE. I told the Sri Lankan navy chief that I will withdraw the IPKF and a proper sendoff should be organised in Trincomalee. If IPKF or anyone tries to create a problem, I will conquer the entire north Sri Lanka, including Colombo,” he had said in an interview.

When Gen Sharma re-trained IPKF for a new role

In 1989-1990, when Rajiv Gandhi lost elections, and VP Singh took over as the Prime Minister, Pakistan had moved armoured formations forward near the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan and north Punjab in a threatening posture. “Since the Indian Army was involved in Sri Lanka, they tried to take advantage, and the threat was building up. At that time, there was also the talk that Pakistan had acquired a nuclear weapon. I brought back IPKF, re-trained formations for a new role in conventional offensive operations over the next few months and was ready to move into Pakistan,” Gen Sharma recalled in another interview.

Advice to ex-Army Chief General A S Vaidya in 1984

While serving as Additional Director General Military Operations (ADGMO) in the Military Operations (MO) Directorate, Gen Sharma had advised the then Army Chief General A S Vaidya in 1984 that the Army should not get involved in any operation to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters from the Golden Temple as it was a political move.

“We suggested to him that this was not a correct employment of the Indian Army. We explained that according to the Constitution the Indian Army cannot be used for political purposes by any government,” said Gen Sharma.

His elder brother Major Somnath Sharma, the first Param Vir Chakra awardee, left a lasting impression on him. He was 17 years old when Major Somnath Sharma was killed defending Srinagar airfield in October 1947.  The family was still in refugee camps in India after having moved from Rawalpindi, where their father was posted as a Colonel in the Army Medical Corps. Being the eldest son, he used to handle all siblings, which included two brothers, himself, and two sisters, with Gen V N Sharma being the youngest. “He instilled the values of duty and discipline in us from an early age,” Gen Sharma recalled at one time.

His elder brother Lt Gen Surendra Nath Sharma leads a fit life at the age of 103 years.

General Sharma was commissioned in 16 Light Cavalry and commanded 66 Armoured Regiment. The Sharma family originally hails from Dadh Village in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.