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Lt
Gen Imtiaz Waraich
The
man was a Giant
[saeed walah]
On this world-stage
few people play their role in a manner that they earn
the admiration and loyalty of friends and appreciation
and respect of adversaries. General (Retd) Imtiaz Waraich
was definitely one of those who knew how to earn respect,
lead his troops and look after his family and friends.
He died at the age of 68 in the Combined Military Hospital
Rawalpindi on 7th July after prolonged fight with cancer.
Next day he was buried in the bosom of the graveyard
of Defence Housing Society Lahore with hearts full of
sorrow and eyes full of tears. Nimaze-Janaza was offered
at 6.00 pm as scheduled. The family wanted it exactly
on time because the deceased took pride all his life
in his punctuality. He was an honourable man, dedicated
soldier, decorated officer, committed patriot, inspiring
leader, empathetic commander, pleasant company, dependable
colleague, caring husband, loving father, loyal brother,
affectionate elder and a conscientious citizen. In all
of these roles, in Thomas Jefferson's words, in matter
of style he would swim with the current but in matter
of principal he would always stand like a rock.
Son of a tehsildar, he was born in
1936 in Faisalabad. He used to take pride in the fact
that his father was appointed company commander at the
age of 18 of the newly raised Waraich Company that British
formed during the First World War. His father was there
to motivate soldiers and was allowed to return when
the company reached its destination. Imtiaz Waraich
was studying in Government College Lahore in FSC in
1952 when he was selected for the army. If his inspiration
for joining the army was his uncle Lt. Col. Bashir Waraich,
his motivation for becoming an ideal soldier was his
Platoon Commander the then Capt Riazul Haq (later Brig).
He fought 1965 and 1971 Wars and remained a POW after
the fall of Dhaka. According to General (Retd) Iqbal
(former Governor Punjab), “he was one of those
very few officers who kept their integrity and balance
of mind during and after the long captivity and rose
in their careers”....more
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Factors
precipitating doctrinal rethinking
Introduction
Indian and Pakistani military doctrines have had a
distinctive defensive undertone ever since the two
countries gained independence from the British in
1947. Notwithstanding the three wars and several 'near'
wars that these two countries have engaged in over
the period of their existence as independent nations,
no significant shift in their respective military
and war-fighting doctrines has come about.
Lately, however,
some events that have taken place in the region and
also elsewhere that have highlighted to both the countries
that their existing doctrines need to be modified
in order to cater for the altered situation and the
emerging scenario.
Events precipitating doctrinal rethinking
- Regional events. Some of the regional events
that have triggered this review of military doctrines
are:
- The nuclearisation of the sub-continent and its
impact on the nature of war in the region and the
roles of the three military services; Army, Navy
and Air Force.
- Lessons of the 1999 Kargil crisis and the possibility
of waging a limited conventional warfare under a
nuclear umbrella.
- The 2001/2002 period of massive military mobilisation
and forward military posturing identified and referred
to by the Indians as 'Operation Parakaram'.
- Global events. At the global level, the following
events that have occurred have also impacted doctrinal
thinking in the South Asian militaries:
- The post-9/11 events and America's War on Terror,
manifested in her invasion, initially of Afghanistan
and later of Iraq.....more
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| These are
days in which many nations are reducing their military
strength and their defence expenditure, and the developing
countries are being exhorted to give greater attention
to alleviation of the pervasive poverty in their regions.
But the Indian budget presented by
finance minister Paliappan Chidambaram on July 8 in
the Lok Sabha enhanced the military spending substantially.
The Congress-led coalition which came into office following
its victory in the May general elections has increased
the defence expenditure by 23 per cent over last year's
outlay of Rs. 603 billion which took the country and
the world by surprise. The finance minister says that
most of the increase in the defence budget was the outcome
of the sharp rise in capital spending in the defence
sector, which rose from Rs. 209.53 billion last year
to Rs. 334 billion this year....more
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