"Deeply perturbed and distressed by the high-handed treatment of armed
forces' veterans on August 14,2015 at Jantar Mantar, ten former defence
chiefs from the three services wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
"unequivocally" condemning the police action and urged the Government to
investigate and take immediate action.
"This indiscretion on the part of the police has seriously impacted the
pride and morale of all ranks of the three services and the veterans,"
the letter says.
Observing that they had not approached the Prime Minister on the issue
of One Rank One Pension (OROP) earlier as they had "full faith" in the
announcements made by the senior political leadership from time to time,
they expressed regret that no announcement was made on Independence
Day.
A day before Independence Day the police tried to evict
protesting ex-servicemen from Jantar Mantar citing security risk but
relented later after a strong social media and media backlash.
There is only one definition of “One Rank One Pension” the letter
reiterates and that has been accepted both by the current and previous
Parliaments and also by the Defence Minister in the presence of the
Veterans.
The former chiefs strongly urged the Government to settle this issue "expeditiously" and in an "urgent time frame". Any further delays they observed will be at the cost of "damaging the pride of the veterans and lowering the morale of the Armed Forces"
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