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| Indian Army's Elite Para Commando Image: Wiki Commons |
By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
NEW DELHI — India is likely to establish a unified Special Forces Command as the Defence Ministry is considering a two-year-old recommendation by a select committee to strengthen its “clandestine” fighting ability, a ministry source said.
The decision will be taken up by the new government. Defence Minister A.K. Antony had delayed making a decision on this issue ahead of the May 16 general election.
India’s Special Forces are under different organizations and report to different ministries. Lack of a unified command inhibits its ability to deliver the desired punch at the required place and time, officials said.
“The Special Forces lack logistics, communication resources and the support systems of the type that is needed for carrying out integrated Special Forces operations,” defense analyst Venkataraman Mahalingam said. “Access to intelligence and real-time information by operatives are nonexistent. They have no shared ethos, training, equipment, concepts or doctrines. Individual roles of these forces have not been defined, and as a result they lack super specialization and expertise to take on sensitive assignments.”
Analysts said the ambiguity on the structure of Special Forces stems from a lack of clarity about its role.
Read the full story at DefenseNews