Ensure maximum punishment to errant troops: Ban to India

New Delhi, August 13 : A day after it came to light that Indian peacekeepers were involved in sexual exploitation and child abuse while posted in Congo, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked India to initiate the “maximum degree” of punishment permissible under the law against the errant soldiers.

In a strong statement — it is the first of its kind against Indian peacekeepers — the Secretary General said that he is “deeply troubled” by the outcome of an investigation by the Office of the Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) which found “prima facie evidence” that Indian blue helmets may have engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse.

As first reported by The Indian Express, the OIOS report was shared with India on Tuesday and indicted several peacekeepers posted in Congo for child abuse and paying minor Congolese girls in North Kivu for sex in 2007 and earlier this year.

Indicating that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has taken the charges against Indian troops in the UN probe seriously, Defence Minster A K Antony directed the Army to “promptly” investigate the allegations in a time-bound manner.

“This has reference to the outcome of a UN probe that has revealed prima facie evidence that a number of Indian peacekeepers, previously assigned to one of the units with the UN Mission in Congo, may have engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse and the subsequent remarks of the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. I would like that the allegations are promptly and thoroughly investigated in a time-bound manner,” Antony said.

Sources confirmed that the OIOS report, sent to the Ministry of External Affairs by the UN on Tuesday, had been shared with the Defence Ministry and contained witness accounts and evidence that Indian peacekeepers indulged in a child prostitution ring near a base camp in Masisi.

What has shocked the military establishment even more is that the incidents — plus the three pervious charges where Indian peacekeepers have been implicated in charges ranging from gold smuggling to illegal assault and detention of locals — have taken place when an Indian officer was commanding the Eastern Division of the UN Mission in Congo.

The allegations against Indian troops pertain to a period when Major General Bikram Singh was the Eastern Division commander and responsible for the entire region where Indian peacekeepers have been implicating. His tenure ended last month.

While the UN has asked India to ensure “that disciplinary action to the maximum degree permitted by Indian...

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