Malik’s elevation marks a decisive shift

Since the almost simultaneous commencement of operations Bluestar and Meghdoot, the Army has been continually occupied by low-intensity operations. This class of operations require a distinct military make-up, psychological as well as material. A leadership trained and exposed primarily to conventional warfare is not necessarily in the best mind frame for this new obligation.

All the more remarkable, therefore, that the Army has been able to achieve so much given this handicap. But this is not something Lt Gen V P Malik is going to suffer with.

Within ten years of service he was a staff officer in the Military Operations Directorate (MO Dte) at Army Headquarters. And this was in the section responsible for counter-insurgency operations during 1967-69. From MO Dte he was back into battalion service and in Mizoram when the guns had not yet fallen silent there. He has then commanded 10 Bn Sikh Light Infantry from 1974-77, first on the Line of Actual Control in the Lohit/Walong Sector and then into active counter-insurgency operations in Nagaland. It is these experiences during battalion service that have been his single greatest advantage in subsequent years.

As a Company Commander and then Commanding Officer of a battalion involved in counter-insurgency duties the world appears very different from what it is outside. The sheer routine in the drudgery as well as the exhilaration of success are concomitant features and which have no substitute. The psychology of militancy is best grasped at this level of operations. This comprehension also facilitates the mental tuning of the soldiers deployed.

The next chief’s second greatest advantage is of course his four stints in the vicinity of Raisina Hill, New Delhi. Besides the two tenures in MO Dte, he has also done a stint as the Additional Director General, Operational Logistics. In the second MO stint, he was involved with the Sri Lankan and Maldives operations.