New Delhi: Taking serious note of the "breach of security" during the full
mobilisation against Pakistan in 2002, Army has initiated court martial proceedings
against two senior officers for "inadvertently" giving out battle plans of an
armoured regiment based in the Chhamb sector.
An Army spokesman on February 5 said "A computer containing classified material was
inadvertently sent out." Disciplinary action against the officers – colonel R S
Malhotra and captain Sanjeev Kumar – had been initiated, he said.
The hard disk containing the battle plans of the sixth Armoured Regiment, then
deployed in the sensitive Chhamb-Akhnur sector at the height of 'Operation
Parakram', became public when the regiment sent the computers used for battle
integration for upgradation to a local dealer.
The Chhamb-Akhnoor has been a very sensitive area for the Army, as it has faced
debacles in the area having to contend with Pakistan armoured attacks both in 1965
and 1971, with the Chhamb town still occupied by Pakistani forces.
Though the Army unit, commanded by colonel Malhotra realised its folly within hours,
the computer dealer who had replaced the hard disk had transferred its contents to a
new computer, which it supplied to the Jammu University.
And for hours, the university students were privy to battle plans of the Indian Army
in a crucial sector, having downloaded the material from the university's main frame
computer.
It was only an alert student who tipped off the local Corp headquarters that their
battle plans were going public that the Army reacted and retrieved the hard disk.
But then a scare had gone out that these battle plans could have been compromised
to Pakistan.
Taking the lapse very seriously, Army headquarters instituted a court of inquiry,
which has ordered stern disciplinary action against the two officers.
The two officers, Army sources said, were put under arrest till the completion of
the probe.
The Army has sent strict instruction to battle formations to store all computer
generated battle plans and information under tight security, the spokesman said.
PTI
