Jan 29, 2015
The Indian Army was totally apolitical till June 3, 1947, when the British government announced the Partition of India. In fact, during the Partition holocaust and till that date, both Muslim and non-Muslim soldiers remained totally impartial in dealing with communal violence.
The undivided Indian Army was a unique institution set up by the British in India. It was a body of Indian soldiers from mostly the martial classes officered by exclusively British officers for the first nearly two centuries, to serve Britain’s imperial interests. The British very cleverly developed the regimental mystique of “Naam, Namak and Nishan”. Naam stood for the community of the soldiers, Namak for loyalty to their paymaster and Nishan for the regimental flag. Indians started being recruited as officers in a small trickle after the First World War, in 1919, and their numbers increased to about 50 a year in 1934, when the Indian Military Academy was established in Dehradun. The floodgates opened for Indians to join as officers during the Second World War. I joined the Indian Army during the Second World War and served in the undivided Indian Army for nearly four years before Partition. In September 1946, I returned to India after serving in Burma during the closing months of the Second World War and then, for nearly a year in Indonesia engaged in combating insurgency of Soekarno’s Revolutionary Army. The Indonesian insurgents were all Muslims and had urged our Muslim soldiers to join them and serve the cause of Islam. A few Muslim soldiers of the Indian Army deserted and joined them. I do not know the exact number but I learnt from unauthentic sources that their number was a few hundreds. Muslim and non-Muslim soldiers had fought against the British unitedly during the 1857 uprising. Subsequently, all combat units, except the Gorkhas and Garhwalis, had a mixed composition of Muslims and non-Muslims. They fought wars together and lived as friendly comrades in peace, owing loyalty to their regiments. Political developments with the emergence of the Congress and the Muslim League did not affect them. The Indian Army was totally apolitical till June 3, 1947, when the British government announced the Partition of India. In fact, during the Partition holocaust and till that date, both Muslim and non-Muslim soldiers remained totally impartial in dealing with communal violence. After June 3, 1947, things started changing. A few senior Muslim officers started visiting Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
There was a small sprinkling of Indian officers in Army Headquarters. I was a captain and was soon promoted major dealing with internal security. From my humble perch in South Block I got a grandstand view of history changing.
Lt. Col. K.M. Cariappa was the first Indian battalion commander in 1942 and a brigade commander in 1944. He became a major general on August 15, 1947, Army Commander on January 20, 1948, and Army Chief on January 15, 1949. At the time of Partition we had about half a dozen Indian brigadiers, and some 30 Lt. Cols. The remaining nearly 11,000 officers were majors or below. The British officers suddenly departed, except a handful at the top. Nevertheless, we managed to overcome this handicap and things worked out well despite our getting involved in the first Indo-Pak War of 1947-48 in Kashmir.
The wartime Indian Army of over two million was being run down to four lakh when Independence came. On the basis of a formula two-thirds for the Indian Army and one-third for Pakistan Army the undivided Army had to be vivisected personnel, stores and equipment. The regiments were divided between the Indian and Pakistan Armies on the basis of the formula. Muslim companies of Indian regiments were transferred to Pakistan regiments and non-Muslim companies in Pakistan regiments to Indian regiments. I recall that I had served with a Punjabi Muslim company of 6 Jat Regiment before Partition, during the war in Burma. When Muslim troops from my regimental centre at Bareilly were being sent to 8 Punjab Regiment in Pakistan I had gone to the centre to wish them goodbye. This was a sentimental moment for both, those going to Pakistan and others remaining in India.
Officers from the minority community had the option of serving in their country or opt for the other country. As far as I know, no non-Muslim officer opted to serve with the Pakistan Army. However, quite a few Muslim officers from India chose to continue serving in the Indian Army although the bulk opted to go to Pakistan. Brigadier Mohammad Usman, the Hero of Naushera, stayed with the Indian Army.
When officers of the Indian Army were departing for Pakistan, the Indian officers organised a function at Delhi Gymkhana Club to bid them farewell. Brigadier K.M. Cariappa was the chief host. We presented a silver trophy to them. The trophy showed two soldiers, one Muslim and the other non-Muslim, wearing their different turbans, in kneeling position, ready to fire against a common enemy. Lord Mountbatten, the then Viceroy, and Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, the Commander-in-Chief, also attended. In his farewell speech Brigadier Cariappa said, “We have lived like brothers in war and peace. Many of our friends are now going to Pakistan. We shall always remain brothers.” Alas, this did not happen. In a little over two months after Independence, Pakistan invaded Kashmir on October 22, 1947, and officers of the two armies were now fighting each other in battle.
On August 15, 1947, Auchinleck became the Supreme Commander with his headquarters in South Block, New Delhi. Gen. Sir Robert Lockhart became Commander-in-Chief, Indian Army, and our Army Headquarters moved to Red Fort, New Delhi. Gen. Sir Frank Messervy became Commander-in-Chief, Pakistan Army. The erstwhile Northern Command at Rawalpindi became GHQ Pakistan. The Supreme Commander was required to supervise the partition of assets and personnel of the undivided Indian Army and also arrange the repatriation of British Army units to the UK. By October he completed this task and his headquarters was wound up.
Auchinleck was offered a peerage on return to the UK in 1948. He declined, saying he had served the undivided Indian Army for 44 years and now that the Army stood partitioned with some of its elements fighting each other in Kashmir, it was a sad moment for him and he would not like to be raised to peerage.
The writer, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir
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