COMBINED COMMANDERS CONFERENCE HELD AT DEHRADUN : 21 JAN 17

Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi will address all senior military commanders as the chair of the Combined Commanders Conference (CCC) in Dehradun on Saturday. The annual conference, being organised outside Delhi for the second time after 2015, will be the first one for the three military chiefs.

According to sources, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will be present for the conference, which is attended by all Army commanders and their equivalents from the Air Force and the Navy. The speculation about the presence of superseded Army commander, Lt General Praveen Bakshi, was cleared last week and he will attend the conference. The other superseded Army commander, Lt General P M Hariz, will also be present.

The half-day conference, which is the first for the three military chiefs since taking over as head of their services last year, will be hosted at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. During the 2014 CCC in Delhi, Prime Minister Modi had proposed that the conference be hosted at a naval ship, an air base or an operational Army base. The last conference was conducted at INS Vikramaditya off the coast of Kochi on December 15, 2015.

The Congress had objected to holding of the conference in Uttarakhand ahead of the polls.

The conference will begin with a 10-minute presentation by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, who is Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee. His presentation will be followed by similar presentations by the other two military chiefs. The three chiefs are expected to update the progress made on the Prime Minister’s points of the last CCC, besides raising issues relating to their respective services.

The conference, to end with a talk by the Prime Minister, is likely to focus on the “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control (LoC), the prevailing situation on the LoC, rise of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the internal security situation in Manipur, and the emerging security situation China. Modi is also expected to touch upon the subjects raised in his previous CCC address and lay out his vision for the armed forces for the coming year.

At the last CCC, Modi had asked the armed forces to “reform” their “beliefs, doctrines, objectives and strategies”, and create “capabilities to win swift wars, for we will not have the luxury of long drawn battles”.

An expert committee headed by Lt General D B Shekatkar (retd), however, has recommended to the Defence Minister that the strength of the Army cannot be reduced, as it has to be prepared to fight any future war against China and Pakistan in mountainous terrain.
(SOURCE-TOI)