Jaitley asks MoD to bring out war history of armed forces

NEW DELHI: India may have fought several wars but does not have any official records of them available publicly. Addressing this need, defence minister Arun Jaitley has now directed his officials to start the process of bringing out a war history of the Indian armed forces.

"The direction is to bring out the war history in various formats, including print, digital and celluloid for the public at large," said an official. This comes after Jaitley took part in the commemoration events to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Indiao-Pak war as well as the centenary of World War I, the latter being organized by the UK, on October 30.

Jaitley said considering the "enormity of the participation" of Indian soldiers in World War I and the number of battles Indian soldiers have been involved in, the move to have "a structured history" would help educate future generations on the subject.

The defence ministry does have official classified histories of all the wars and conflicts fought by an independent India but it has only released the one connected to the 1948 Jammu and Kashmir operations. Even after expiry of the mandatory 30-year confidential clause, it has suppressed the official histories of the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars.

http://ift.tt/1qmYUvO history of armed forces,1965 Indiao-Pak war

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