Army deployment

And in going against the better counsel of his team, having proclaimed on December 9 as prelude to the deployment, that it was necessitated by the need to protect the lives and properties of the people to keep alive the economic activities to seize illegal weapons and thwart terrorist activities, he has made very light of the military by his decision to 'rest' the army, and made his office look very callow too.

We will be well within our rights to ask of the president to clarify as to what the decision making process he had employed to arrive at such an important course of action only to find nothing for the army to do, having deployed to new locations after being called away from their winter manoeuvre which they undertake once in a year only?

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We have noticed in the president and the chief adviser a propensity to reach out for the army without rhyme or reason as we saw him order once before, only to rescind it after finding his colleagues resistant to his plans. Then also he acted in complete secrecy as this time, keeping his colleagues in the dark. This is a glaring example of the president's unilateralist approach, something we have been calling upon him to expurgate from his attitude.

The deployment has not only been premature, it has also resulted in unnecessary wastage in terms of money, materiel and manpower, let alone the fact that their winter training was disrupted. And assuming that the elections are held as per the announced schedule, it is still five weeks away, a long time indeed for the soldiers to rest, deployed in various parts of the country, in cities and towns.

It would be in the fitness of things if they were to revert to their normal duty of training instead of remaining standby. In fact the state of 'stand by' can be also fulfilled in their respective training or peace locations.