Page 260 - Leadership in the Indian Army

feeding and administration. Prem insisted that the prisoners be given all the
facilities authorised to them, and be treated exactly like Indian soldiers. He
ensured that they had access to canteen stores, postal facilities and medical

cover, and that they were given a portion of their salary, as provided by the
Geneva Convention. In some cases, he got the accommodation occupied by
our own troops vacated for the prisoners. As a result, Pakistani prisoners
had only praise for the way they were treated in India, and often remarked
that they wished their own officers were like the Indian officers in their
concern for the welfare of men.
After the 1971 Indo–Pak War it was decided to form a new Army

Command to look after Jammu and Kashmir, and Northern Command came
into being with its headquarters at Udhampur. Prem was appointed its first
GOC-in-C in June 1972. Having been an Army Commander for the last two
years, he was eminently suited for his new assignment. His priorities
remained the same—improvement of defences and the working and living
conditions of troops. By this time, he had also developed a certain style

which was often regarded as ostentatious. As an Army Commander, he
expected the best—in accommodation, food, drink, or in terms of other
facilities. He was fond of parties, and entertained often and lavishly. He
wooed both the civilian officials and the IAF officers posted in Udhampur,
and they were frequent guests at functions held at the club or the officers’
mess. He smoked a particular brand of cigarettes and drank only Vat 69
whisky. Some of his staff officers did not see eye to eye with him on these

matters, but Prem insisted that it was necessary to maintain standards. If he
himself accepted low standards, how could he expect others to keep them
high, he argued. When he had been in Lucknow, he had usually travelled by
rail in the Army Commander’s saloon, which was luxurious. He found air
travel painful because of the damage he had suffered to his ear in East
Africa. In Northern Command, he did most of his travelling by road, since

there was no railway in Jammu and Kashmir.
One of his first tasks as GOC-in-C was delineating the Line of Control
after the 1971 war with Pakistan. He was appointed the leader of the Indian
team, which also included his Chief of Staff, Major General M.R. Rajwade,
and the Director of Military Operations at Army HQ, Major General I.S.
Gill. The Pakistani team was led by Lieutenant General Abdul Hamid
Khan. The main task of the teams was to delineate a Line of Control along

the entire border in Jammu and Kashmir. The first meeting was held at