New Delhi: As many as 120 veterans of the Indian Armed Forces, across ranks and appointments, have written an open letter to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, requesting action against those who spread the fake news of a non-existent ‘Muslim regiment’ of the Indian Army refusing to fight in the 1965 war against Pakistan.The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.The Wire had carried a piece originally reported by Alt News on the spread of misinformation along a false and communal line.The letter notes that the falsehood campaign originally began in May of 2013, when an account on Twitter, calling itself ‘World Hindus United’ posted the following tweet.“The tweet was meant to show that Muslim soldiers had their loyalties to Pakistan rather than India. The ‘Muslim Regiment’ post has been re-tweeted many times thereafter, and its insidious surfacing during the on-going Chinese aggression, is certainly suspect,” the letter says, pointing out 18 accounts among hundreds who retweeted and repeated this false claim.“These ‘Muslim Regiment’ posts are blatantly false, because the Indian Army did not have a Muslim Regiment in 1965 or since,” the letter observes, adding that some senior-ranking veterans have unequivocally pointed this out.Among them is Lt Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain who in his Times of India blog of November 30, 2017, had noted that this was not true, and was possibly part of Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations’s disinformation campaign.“We further wish to point out that Muslims fighting as part of multi-class regiments proved their absolute commitment to the cause of our nation.For example, Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid was posthumously awarded Param Vir Chakra, for his courage and valiance in the Battle of Asal Uttar during the 1965 India-Pakistan War.Also in the 1965 war, Major (later Lt Gen) Mohammad Zaki and Major Abdul Rafey Khan were both awarded Vir Chakra, the latter posthumously, when he fought against the Pakistani division commanded by his own uncle, Maj Gen Sahibzada Yaqub Khan. Such are the legends of Muslim warriors.”The letter also cites the example of Brigadier Mohammad Usman who chose to remain in the Indian Army in spite of being approached personally by Jinnah to move to Pakistan. “He fought the Pakistani invasion in Kashmir, was the senior-most officer killed in action in July 1948, and was posthumously awarded Mahavir Chakra for his gallantry. He lies buried in the Jamia Millia Islamia campus in Delhi…” the letter notes.Saying that Muslim soldiers of this so-called ‘Muslim Regiment’ refused to fight the war against Pakistan in 1965 and hence the ‘Muslim Regiment’ was disbanded, denigrates and questions the loyalty of all serving and retired Muslim soldiers. Further, it helps the enemy by striking at the morale of India’s soldiers to degrade their operational capability.The signatories note that spread of such messages promotes mistrust among the ranks and that there should be official action against the perpetrators.“It needs no emphasis that social unrest adversely affects the morale of soldiers who are far away from their families, doing their duty to defend our borders, at daily risk to life and limb,” the letter says.Appealing to the President to ensure that the secular and apolitical nature of the armed forces be preserved, the signatories have called for the following measures to be taken by the government:Investigate the antecedents of individuals who have made ‘Muslim Regiment’ posts.Identify and charge individuals who have made ‘Muslim Regiment’ posts for anti-national activities.Issue warning to the social media providers (Facebook and Twitter) who have enabled ‘Muslim Regiment’ posts.Issue immediate instructions to all state governments that the generation of false and seditious messages in social media should be acted upon with alacrity so as to not jeopardise national security.The full list of signatories is below:Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSMLt Gen Ramdas Mohan, PVSM, AVSM, VSMLt Gen RK Nanavatty, PVSM, UYSM, AVSMLt Gen Vijay Oberoi, PVSM, AVSM, VSMLt Gen UK GanguliLt Gen Raman Dhawan, AVSM,VSM**, ADCLt Gen Ashwini Kumar Bakshi AVSM, SM, VSMLt Gen Oomman P Mathew, PVSM, AVSM, SMLt Gen Kishen Bhatia, PVSMLt Gen KS Rao, PVSM, SC, SMVice Admiral Madanjit Singh, PVSM, AVSMVice Admiral R P Suthan, PVSM, AVSM, VSMVice Admiral Michael Morales, AVSMMaj Gen SG Vombatkere, VSMMaj Gen PK Joglekar, PVSMMaj Gen Arun SrinivasanMaj Gen Suresh KrishnanMaj Gen Inderjit KashyapMaj Gen Anil Sawhny, AVSMMaj Gen SS Grewall, AVSMMaj Gen Rajendra Prakash, VSMMaj Gen TK Kaul, PVSM, AVSM, VSMMaj Gen MPS KandalMaj Gen SS ChohanRear Admiral Stanley Alan O’LearyBrig Baqir ShameemBrig Sharad Ramchandra Luktuke, SM, VSMBrig Mohammad Nasim KhanBrig KakarBrig JM Devadoss, SMBrig Vijay RahejaBrig M Sudandiram, VSMBrig Vinod Kumar Adappa, SMBrig Prem HejmadiBrig SP AgarwalBrig M R DeshpandeBrig Deepak GroverBrig AM SharmaBrig Virendra Kumar BajajBrig Anil BhatBrig SK JandialBrig Ali Adil Mahmood, VSMBrig RJS Dhillon, YSM, VSMBrig AN SuryanarayananBrig MJ Jacob, SMCol Dinesh KumarCol Pavan Nair, VSMCol Shashi ThomasCol Ashwin BaindurCol Ajay DabholkarCol RK MinochaCol Rajendra BhaduriCol VK RajendranCol Vinay KumtaCol A K MogheCol Ronnie Burjor MistryCol Vivek BopiahCol Ajay Kumar DewanCol Manduvanda Lava CheeyannaCol Sunil DattCol Manmohan SinghCol Esmond Jules SanchisCol Sharath BhatCol Raghu Akella, VSMCol Rajive KohliCol Vivek BhattCol Swaran Singh PathaniaCol CK RoyCol VR MenonCapt (IN) Subbarao Prabhala,VSMCapt (IN) AK KaliaCapt (IN) Paul AbrahamGp Capt BC ChristopherGp Capt Philips Jacob, VMLt Col Vijay N KharkarLt Col Johnson ThomasLt Col Shubeg Singh GillLt Col VC AlexanderLt Col Riyaz KhanLt Col A K SuriLt Col Niraj PantLt Col Aditya ParidaLt Col Arun Rao, SMLt Col Hasan Muzaffar, SMLt Col TL SharmaLt Col Avinash KarnikLt Col JE PremkumarCdr A VibhutiCdr S ViswanathanCdr A AbrahamCdr MV CherukothCdr Ravindra P VarmaCdr MM PareekCdr CR BabuCdr Arvind PoothiaCdr Karunesh KaushikCdr Dipak D NaikCdr John PhiliposeCdr Tom JosephWg Cdr A S Joshi (Retd)Wg Cdr Rakesh SantWg Cdr Vinod Nebb, VrC**Wg Cdr Mohammad Sufiyan KhanWg Cdr Bertrand Joseph VazMaj Priyadarshi Chowdhury, SCMaj Jasbeer Singh, SMMaj Vijay SharmaMaj MG DevasahayamMaj AA KhanLt Cdr Harbans Singh DhillonLt Cdr Rajender Singh BajwaCapt JJ Alfred RajasekaranFlt Lt Rajiv TyagiLt (IN) Sandhya SuriHony Lt (IN) DN Singh, MSMHony Lt (IN) Tilak Raj SharmaSergeant Sunil RaoSergeant Mandetira N SubramaniSergeant Joginder SinghSergeant Irshad Shaikh
