On whether he was asked by the government for an explanation:Yes, a formal report on the matter was sent the next day. In that report, we clarified all issues. We put it in writing that we (the military operations directorate) are not supposed to know about such training exercises. We are informed after the exercises go beyond a certain level.
On what the fallout of the events has been:Now a system has been put in place that if there is any movement you have to inform the defence ministry. Some time after this, they wrote a letter saying that if there are any movements that take place around Delhi, you have to inform us.
On troop movements being planned around the same time as then Army chief Gen V K Singh approaching the Supreme Court over his date-of-birth issue:
They (the Army) probably should have avoided (the movements), if they knew about the court date. But this was an exercise that was planned a few days earlier and it was not known to anyone that he (Gen V K Singh) was going to go to court on that particular date. Certainly not to people lower in the command.
I think the (defence) ministry and the IB (Intelligence Bureau) got excited and made their impression as the last five to six months things had gone to a level where there had been a distrust among people— two individuals. There was immaturity on both sides. Immaturity on the part of the commanders I don't know, if he knew about the (court) dates or had he thought on these lines, he could have stopped it.
But I don't think he thought on those lines. These instructions are issued at least 72 hours or before in peacetime. It would have taken three to four days of planning. They were not moving to Delhi, that is certain, even in their plans.
Even the para guys were only going to the artillery unit in Gurgaon, though on paper, they were to go to Hindon. Delhi was never there in any of the plans.
Armoured (units) was a totally different exercise and was not connected to the para movements. They (armoured units) were supposed to go to a bigger exercise later. Prior to that, they were having this internal exercise to see how fast they could mobilise, especially to the western borders. The time to take on road, the worthiness of the roads, the condition of the vehicles etc. There was no other intention and there were no chances either.
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