Rising Kashmir: New Delhi:
Friday, April 05, 2013.
The
disclosure of information related to casualties suffered by army during Kargil
war and number of terrorists killed cannot be made public as it would
"affect morale of nation", Central Information Commission has held in
an order 14 years after the war.
Ironically,
most of the details which Information Commissioner M L Sharma allowed the army
to withhold are already in public domain through the official web site of the
Press Information Bureau, a Government of India department.
A feature
given on the PIB web site on "Operation Vijay" clearly says that 527
brave soldiers and airmen laid down their lives during the Kargil war.
The curious
decision of Sharma came on the plea of RTI applicant Om Prakash Kashiram who
sought to know from the army the number of terrorists and the Indian soldiers
killed in the Kargil War and the matters related therewith.
The
information which was sought last year in May was denied by army citing section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act which
allows withholding of information, disclosure of which would prejudicially
affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic,
scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or
lead to incitement of an offence.
Kashiram then
preferred an appeal before the CIC contesting the claims of army.
When the
matter reached Sharma, he agreed with the views taken by army and allowed withholding
information.
"War
related casualties cannot be placed in public domain without a reasonable
distance of time as they affect the morale of the nation in general and that of
the troops in particular. Disclosure of such information has a bearing on the
national security," Sharma held in his order which was given nearly 14
years of the war.
.JPG)
.JPG)
