Page 35 - Leadership in the Indian Army

Captain Burhanuddin of 2/10 Baluch Regiment. He was found guilty and
Cariappa had to announce the sentence which was seven years of rigorous
imprisonment. After reading out the sentence, he went up to the accused

and shook hands with him and his counsel. There were raised eyebrows and
Cariappa was later asked by the Adjutant General to explain his conduct.
Cariappa felt that he had done nothing wrong. He said, ‘I sentenced him as
the President of the Court and shook hands with him as a gentleman.’
In January 1947 Cariappa was sent to the UK to attend the Imperial
Defence College along with J.N. Chaudhury, who was then only a colonel.
This was the first time that Indian officers had been given the opportunity to

attend this prestigious course, thanks mainly to the foresight of Auchinleck.
The ‘Auk’ knew that the British would soon be leaving India and
appreciated the necessity of training Indian officers to fill senior
appointments in the government and the army. Cariappa’s old commander
and mentor, Bill Slim, was the Commandant of the Imperial Defence
College. He saw Cariappa as the future C-in-C of the Indian Army and

often invited him for discussions on the situation then unfolding in the
subcontinent.
At the Imperial Defence College Cariappa was exposed to a much wider
canvas than the one to which he had been accustomed. He realised that
officers of the Indian Army had a long way to go before they could achieve
the levels of those from the developed nations. During this time, there was a
lot of talk about the impending division of India and the Indian Army.

Cariappa, who realised the dangers of dividing the army and was aware of
the inexperience of officers at senior levels, said that it would take at least
five years before the Indian Army could stand on its feet without the help of
British officers. This was picked up by the press and caused a furore in
India. Liaquat Ali Khan of the Muslim League felt that Cariappa’s
intentions in keeping an undivided army were suspect, and took up the issue

with Lord Mountbatten. Cariappa was summoned to India House in
London, where Lord Ismay, Mountbatten’s Chief of Staff, was present.
Cariappa explained that he had made the suggestion only because he felt
that an undivided army could help the two newly independent nations
overcome their teething problems. He was admonished, and told to dismiss
the idea from his mind, never to mention it again. In a telegram to
Mountbatten on 4 May 1947, Ismay wrote, ‘It is hard to know whether

Cariappa in putting forward his idea was ingenious and ignorant or