Controversial Kargil Cdr Budhwar shifted

Controversial Kargil Cdr Budhwar shifted
GAURAV C SAWANT

NEW DELHI, APRIL 6: Major General V S Budhwar, the controversial 3 Division Commander who supervised the Kargil conflict, has been moved out. He is being replaced by Major General S Thaplial, considered to be a confidant of Chief of the Army Staff General Ved Prakash Malik. Budhwar's new posting is a staff appointment, that of chief of staff of the Jodhpur-based Desert Corps.

The controversial general was said to be putting a zoo together in Leh using soldiers supposed to be guarding the ridgelines in the Kargil, Batalik and Turtuk sectors to hunt for animals. Sources said he had formations in the southern glacier hunt for double-hump camels in the Nubra valley while in Batalik and Kargil, soldiers were hunting for rare birds and animals for the general's zoo.

Brigadier Surinder Singh, the Kargil Brigade commander (when the intrusions were detected in May 1999) charged the general with not taking him seriously following differences between them. And when the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lieutenant-General N C Vij visited Kargil and Batalik on May 5 last year, neither Budhwar nor Singh had briefed him about enemy presence on the Batalik heights.

In fact, Budhwar was the only senior commander not to be decorated with a medal after the Kargil conflict, besides from Brigader Surinder Singh. As the army prepares for a ``hot summer'' on the Line of Control (LoC) and amid reports of a troop build-up across the LoC, Army headquarters has posted Brigadier S Thaplial (on promotion to the rank of major general) as the Leh Division commander.

Thaplial, at present in the perspective planning cell of Army headquarters, was Military Assistant to General Malik, and according to sources, ``enjoys his confidence''. The Army spokesperson has described the transfer as routine.

A spate of transfers are likely to be triggered this year following the end of the two-year extension period. Sources in the Military Secretary's branch said that as many as 10 lieutenants-general and 24 majors-general would be ready to retire by the year end. ``Promotions in the Army, which came to a standstill two years ago, will now finally start happening,'' sources added.

However, sources refused to comment on the present appointment of Brigadier Singh. He was attached to the Leh Division Headquarters following a court of inquiry after the Kargil conflict.