Two recent events, the ham-handed sacking of the Army Chief General Rookmangud Katawal in Nepal, and an ‘advisory’ to all ex-servicemen (ESM) by the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) to vote for a particular political party/alliance in India, merit attention due to the sensitivity of the civil military relations in a democratic society.

The adverse political consequences of the Nepalese event are many: a setback to the national peace process and political instability, a constitutional divide over the authority of the president and prime minister, and Nepal’s foreign relations with India and China. No less important are its military consequences, which are a lack of trust and confidence between the civilian government and the military, and a divide within the military hierarchy. Both these will have an impact on the command and control, discipline, morale and combat proficiency of the Nepal Army. Also, there is an erosion of the historic military-to-military cooperation between Nepal and India where traditionally, the army chiefs have enjoyed the honourary status of a chief in each other’s country.

The hot-headed civil and military approach to the absorption of Maoist military cadres was avoidable. I wish they had studied a similar military transformation following the first post-apartheid national elections and the adoption of a new constitution in South Africa. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) replaced the earlier South African Defence Force (SADF) to include personnel and equipment from the former defence and homelands forces, as well as personnel from the former guerrilla forces of the political parties such as the African National Congress’s Umkhonto we Sizwe, the Pan Africanist Congress’ APLA and the Self-Protection Units of the Inkatha Freedom Party. This process started in 1994 was completed in 2004 with the integrated personnel having been incorporated into a slightly modified structure. Today, the SANDF is an effective force in South Africa, also making a substantial contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations in Congo, Burundi and Sudan.

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