Wednesday, December 24, 2008

War? Just think about this....

A lot is being covered in the media about a possible war in the near future. The question being repeatedly asked in all the channels and news papers is whether we are ready for war. But to me the real question is- are the soldiers, their families ready for the war? I have a friend who is a new army wife and if we go to war her husband being the infantry man would be the first one to leave along with thousands of others. This would leave an equal number of spouses back home. So what is being done for them? There is a saying that God handpicks special girls to be army wives so where does a war leave a girl who very proudly wedded the olive green.

They experience loneliness, lack of communication, routine emotional upheavals on a regular basis. For an army wife the presence of the military is so strong it is almost like a third partner in the marriage. But in many cases this third partner is the quickest one to leave her in case of some mishap. Once, the then Minister of Defence Mr O Rajagopalan said that the military wives are a national responsibility. I really appreciate his comments. But comments take us nowhere. Standing firmly behind our nation’s heroes these wives do also need a firmer back support.

With so much of media hype I know a lot of military families feel a bit lost right now. They quite honestly don't know what the future holds for them. There are hundreds of issues that are important to the all the army personnel and all of their dependents which need immediate attention. These having been gathering dust in the files and may never even see the daylight.

And lastly whether or not there is a war what is actually needed is a rock solid plan A and plan B for the families to fall back on. Is anybody listening? Rahul Gandhi? We need you here….

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

personally I think war is no solution at all and I dont know why so much passions are being ignited on both sides to go for war......half of population on both sides of boundaries live without basic facilities, in this so called 21st century and we are taking of war and want to loose more lives....are we giving to what few want in this world - destruction ?

shehla Masood said...

well i second the Anil opinion..

the Government should work to de-escalate tension..
or the blame game will carry on..
today we heard Pakistan crying.. Indias role in Lahore blasts.. although India refutes charges...

WAR IS NOT A SOLUTION TO TERRORISM

Anonymous said...

have great sympathy for the army wives (both Officer's and Other Rank's). In fact plight of a jawan's widow is infinitely worse. What needs to be done is to establish a system of constant interface with army families and widows even after they have received initial compensation and so on. In fact that should be the start point for the in-house (Army) agency. Such an agency ought to have a semi-autonomous status, where-in it is manned by serving officers and men but has freedom of action subject to norms of transparency and corporate governance. It must be large enough to have pan-India footprint. It should have expertise in fields of personal finance management, legal assistance, job-placement, education of wards, insurance and pension services for spouses.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ambreen,

Keep up the good work. Only suggestion -- take up these issues for civilians to understand the faujis, their NOKs. Faujis keep commenting on these but time for civ populace to do some soul searching now. (I understand you are already doing it thru print media but more could be welcome)

Once again compliments for the good work done by you and keep it up.

All the best and Regards