Army to brief its former chiefs on surgical strikes, Doklam row

army will brief its former chiefs on significant developments during the last two years — including the border standoff with China, the 2016 surgical strikes and ongoing military reforms — at an upcoming conclave, sources said on Tuesday.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat will host the three-day brainstorming session beginning September 7 in Delhi, with around 10 of his predecessors expected at the biennial event.

“We will be given detailed briefings by important appointment holders, including the heads of military operations and military intelligence wings,” former army chief General JJ Singh told HT.

The meeting comes a week after India and China ended a 73-day border face-off in Doklam plateau near Sikkim and almost a year after the army carried out surgical strikes against militant launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to a strike on its camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri that left 19 soldiers dead in September 2016.

From border standoffs, surgical strikes to modernisation, all national security aspects would be discussed, Gen Singh said.

If the army had not confronted the Chinese troops in Doklam, the neighbour would have built the road and “presented it to India as a fait accompli,” he said.

China had accused India of trespass and preventing its troops from building a road in the Himalayan plateau, claimed by both Beijing and Bhutan.

The standoff ended with withdrawal of troops and China removing construction equipment.

Army’s restructuring and modernisation will be another point of discussion, officers said.