Tri-forces press conference to prove Pakistan F-16 shot down reduced to shabby affair thanks to civilian control

Leave it to the armed forces and their senior representatives would have held the press conference with style and grace and a certain military precision. Hand over the authority to the ministry and its bureaucrats and you get a sad and sorry caricature of a media conference so poorly arranged that a rural school PTA would have done it with more class. You bring in three flag officers from the three services and in the vast expanse of Vijay Chowk you manage to give them one microphone to share in what is widely described as a ‘rare event’ when the armed forces speak to the press. One microphone to share? So now in this so-called major meet we have these starred officers shuffled around like a pack of cards as they are nudged up and in and out and threaded through a bunch of rubberneckers who want to be seen on camera and no one seems to care about this incredible breach of security. And all through these very senior officers are standing like totem poles without any arrangements to make this more military in its optics. Your turn, now your turn, now yours. Seeing how the conference itself was delayed by two hours, the question of it being an emergency meeting does not arise. There was enough time to get this act together. [caption id=“attachment_6177371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representatives of the tri-forces at Thursday’s press briefing. PTI[/caption] In times like these, why aren’t the armed forces given free rein to hold their own conference without being shepherded by a bureaucrat who was more keen to please half a dozen members of the media whose names he knew by choosing them for a rather vanilla ‘question and answer’ session. Major-General Surendra Singh Mahal, Air Vice-Marshal RGK Kapoor and Navy Rear Admiral DS Gujral looked more like school students standing outside the principal’s study waiting to be chastised, rather than men in command. Now, you might say this is all nitpicking and so what if the arrangements were poor, it isn’t that important. Yes, it is. These videos are seen around the world and they project the image of our forces and their muscle. It counts for a lot, and the pomp and ceremony at various levels makes for the right impression. There is no need for an ad hoc arrangement in a nation that sets up stages for politicians on a daily basis. If a simple regiment was conducting this conference, it would have first ensured that the flag officers arrived in accustomed style and were thus received, rather than as if they were out for a stroll. The table would have been laid with three chairs and nameplates in front of them. Each officer would have explained who he is and his role. The media would have been asked to sit. If we seat thousands for the Beating of the Retreat in the same venue, why not now at this exceptional briefing? The piece de resistance, the crumpled part of an AAMRAM missile from an F-16 would have been placed on a separate table with a military guard in ceremonial gear. A weaponry expert should have been present with a PowerPoint presentation and a simulated video demonstration of what, how and where this wreckage was discovered. Since no great new data was presented and only already-running stories were confirmed, this conference was a shabby affair — not so much for the content because security calls for discretion, but for the absence of any organisational skill in presenting and projecting our armed forces. It was truth-be-told a civilian function with three senior officers force-fed into it. If this sort of clumsiness had occurred in a battalion or a brigade event, everyone would have been called up on charge and asked to explain what they thought they were doing. At Vijay Chowk, the melee that ensued to take shots of the missile wreckage would have made the Marx brothers proud.The conference started with babble and ended with it. If we have to do it, do it well. With polish and not in this babu fashion, especially at a moment when our armed forces are at centre stage.