Arunachal MP Demands Govt to Declassify Henderson Brooks and Bhagat Report on 1962 Indo-China War

New Delhi, March 19, 2020:

Arunachal Pradesh MP Tapir Gao on March 18 demanded the Government to place the 1962 War Report of Lieutenant-General T.B. Henderson Brooks and Brigadier Premindra Singh Bhagat in Parliament.

Addressing the Speaker Om Birla, during zero hour, Gao said, "We Indians fought in 1962, in 1971, we fought the Kargil war. It is a tradition of the Constitution that the war reports are placed in Parliament."

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"In 58 years, the Henderson Brooks and Brig. Gen. Premindra Singh Bhagat report has not been placed in the Parliament; Gao lamented, further adding, "From a military point of view and public point of view it is view it is important as thousands died in the '62 war."

Gao also said that the future generations will learn much from the report as it will help the Indians assess how they lost the war. "The military should also know how India lost to China. We will learn lessons", Gao further added.

Later, Gao took to Twitter to post a snippet of his speech along with the words, "Today in Parliament during zero hour, I demanded to place the 1962 War Report of Lt Gen Henderson Brooks & Brig.Gen. Premindra Singh Bhagat in Parliament. This is very important in the Military point of view as well as the brave martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation."

It may be recalled here that The Sino-India war began on October 20, 1962 when the People's Liberation Army of China invaded Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh (then known as the North East Frontier Agency) in a synchronised move.

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According to a report, at the end of the war the Indian army suffered the following casualties: 1,383 killed, 1,047 wounded, 1,696 missing, and 3,968 jawans captured. The Chinese on the other hand lost 722 soldiers while 1,697 were wounded.

The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report is said to be openly critical of the Indian political and military structure of the time as well as of the execution of operations. According to Australian journalist Neville Maxwell, the report claims that the Indian government, which was keen to recover territory, advocated a cautious policy but that the Army Headquarters dictated a policy that was militarily unsound. 58 years after the war, the report is still unclassified. Some analysts argue that the continuing public controversy over the report indicates that many of the problems identified in the report still continue.

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It may be recalled here that Gao had earlier urged the Government of India to redraw the atlas, claiming that China has encroached 50 km of Arunachal Pradesh territory. MP Gao said the Survey of India which had drawn the atlas of India during the British regime had kept several areas of the strategic border state out of the country’s territory.

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