Do you agree that unauthorized wearing and misuse of Army Uniform is a big evil and promotes militancy?

AWFUL MISUSE AND HUMILIATION OF ARMY UNIFORM

I am reproducing the relevant text of some of the press reports from across the country and the world depicting the dastardly acts of militants clad in Army uniform, the likes of which have been shaking up the world for ages.

* Militants in Army uniforms mowed down 25 villagers in Champanan. The act was repeated in Thakrai and Sarban villages near Kishtwar. Dressed in olive green Army uniforms, the ultras killed innocent villagers in cold blood. On its part, the administration had given several assurances that the recurrence of such incidents would be checked.

* Once again, the militants used combat uniforms to gain entry into the residential area of the Army family quarters when they struck, killing 30 people and injuring another 50. When they boarded the Himachal Roadways bus near Vijaypur town early in the morning, all passengers took them to be bonafide Army personnel carrying weapons. As such, there was no reason for the passengers to panic. Later, when the militants asked the driver to stop near the Kalu Chak Army camp, he obliged thinking they had reached their unit area and wanted to get down. It was seconds later when they opened fire that the other passengers realized the gravity of the situation, but by then it was too late. The incident has highlighted the government’s failure to check the open and uncontrolled sale of cloth used for making Army uniforms in the markets throughout the region. Though district magistrates (DMs) of various districts have, from time to time, sought to check the sale of this cloth, their orders have remained mere words which were never enforced. The then Chief Minister, Mr Farooq Abdullah readily admitted the government’s failure to check the open sale of cloth used for making Army uniforms though it has been misused by the militants time and again. However, he said that henceforth, the government would pass such orders as would be strictly enforced and seek to punish the errant shopkeepers. The then Governor Girish Chander Saxena said going by the number of incidents in which militants wearing Army uniforms had carried out different types of attacks, it was imperative to ban the open sale of uniform cloth. Asked how such ban orders would be implemented when the government had failed to do so in the past, senior civil and police officials said if the government showed the will, they had the wherewithal to enforce the orders.



* Stepping up violence, heavily-armed militants in military uniform stormed an Army camp killing seven jawans and injuring six others at Akhnoor.







* One Brigadier and seven jawans were killed, and 12 injured when three militants in Army uniforms attacked an Army camp in Tanda, about 40km north of Jammu on the road to Poonch. The militants alighted from a vehicle and began firing at the security guards at the 610 EME Battalion Camp. They managed to enter deep inside the camp hurling grenades and opening indiscriminate fire, disguising themselves as Army personnel. The attack came less than 12 hours after an attack by Army uniform clad militants in Banganga near Katra in which six devotees were killed. The site is on the way to the Vaishno Devi shrine.

* Just when reports in the media suggested that things were looking up in Jammu and Kashmir (J%26amp;K,) came a major suicide attack by Army uniform clad militants on an Army camp at Sanjwan near the state's winter capital, Jammu. The attack came on the final day of the then President A P J Abdul Kalam's visit to the region. Militants, dressed in Army uniforms, cut their way through fencing to enter the Army camp and then made their way to a barrack and shot dead about 12 sleeping Army personnel. The two militants were killed in the encounter that followed. A little-known group, the al-Nasireen, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian intelligence agencies, however, believe that the attack was masterminded by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and was made easy by the local shopkeepers selling various items of Army uniform.



* At least 20 Islamic militants of Fatah Islam were killed when they launched an attack against the Lebanese Army from a position located in the Nahr al- Bared Palestinian refugee camp. Two Army soldiers were also killed. The Fatah Islam militants were trying to escape from the camp when the Army confronted them. Some twenty were killed and several others were wounded. The militants were dressed in Lebanese Army uniforms.



* Suspected al-Qaida militants wearing Iraqi Army uniforms killed up to 13 people in a raid on a district south of Baghdad. Clad in Military uniform, militants have killed two Iraqi soldiers and eight members of an anti-al-Qaeda group near the Baghdad capital. The activists raided a checkpoint in a village south of the capital. The militants took with them an army vehicle and raided the Hawr Rajab Awakening Council Headquarters.



* Pakistani gunship helicopters launched fresh attacks on pro-Taliban bunkers in the troubled northwest, as clashes left nearly 100 militants dead. Militants "disguised some of their dead bodies in the uniform of the Frontier Constabulary" to make it appear as if they were soldiers.











* Taliban militants wearing Afghan Army uniforms attacked a remote NATO base in eastern Afghanistan, leaving two Afghan soldiers dead and 11 alliance soldiers wounded. The militants wearing Afghan Army uniforms approached the NATO's forward operating base in mountainous Nuristan province, before launching the attack.



* The LTTE cadres in Army uniform exploded a claymore mine and directed small arms fire at Kalvettai in Marudankulam Vavuniya. The PLOTE Leader said that was a very dangerous trend. "We have heard of similar attacks earlier but at that time we did not have any concrete evidence. This time round, we are positive that it was the LTTE cadres in the Sri Lanka Army uniforms who were firing at unarmed civilians to put the blame on the Army," he said.

* The SLA in Jaffna said that it caught two robbers who were looting a house around. The SLA said that the robbers were civilians dressed in army uniforms.

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In our country, most of the Security Guards at Malls, Hotels and Restaurants, Corporate Houses, Factories and other public places attire themselves in uniform which comprises of a number of items of Army uniform, and wear it in such a shoddy manner that it brings an awful disrepute to the uniformed soldiers.



Photographs, appearing in the newspapers, of the camps and hideouts of various militant groups across the globe disclose the rampant misuse of Army uniform by their cadres.



School and college going children adorn themselves in combat trousers or combat vests, not realizing an iota of the sanctity attached to the fabric.



Commercial film makers do the maximum damage. A comedian will attire himself in an Army uniform and conduct himself in such a disgraceful manner which certainly makes his character quite comic, but at a huge cost.



The nation pays tribute to a soldier who gives the supreme sacrifice of his life for safeguarding its territorial integrity, by draping his mortal remains in the National Tricolour before being laid to rest. Then why is his uniform subjected to extreme indignity and humiliation – the uniform which is a matter of pride for him from the day he joins the Army, the uniform to which he gives the utmost regards all throughout his life and the uniform in which he fights, breathes his last and sleeps forever, for the tomorrow of the nation.









We all in the nation need to take on the onerous responsibility of putting in concerted efforts to revive the respect and glory of the Army uniform. All the four estates of our democracy – the media, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, alongwith the ever important support of the citizens, need to combine to take this noble step, which will have far reaching consequences towards creation of a better nation, a nation - we all will be proud of.

Do you agree that unauthorized wearing and misuse of Army Uniform is a big evil and promotes militancy?
I read your complete question with lot of interest, and disagree with anyone who feels it is not worth taking out time to read it.

You are right, this is an area of major concern. Not only is it degrading the image of the Army, it is also a huge security risk, as anyone can manage to buy a uniform from the market.

There are some steps that the government and police should institute to curb this menace. Sale of uniforms and other military material should be permitted only from authorized shops in the military cantonments. A rule should be legislated that forbids any civilian from wearing military uniforms and abusing them by putting the camouflage pattern cloth to unsoldierly uses such as suitcase covers. Anyone acting in contravention should be strictly dealt with by the law.
Reply:Branded Army items and uniforms should not be allowed to others.Mis utilisation will be a serious offence .
Reply:Did you really expect anyone to take the time to read that.



I have an idea... paraphrase
Reply::)
Reply:I have full confidence in your ability to resolve this problem. TIA

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