India Gate

New Delhi, May 24: Military veterans have decided to go on a hunger strike on May 27 at the memorial to the unknown soldier at India Gate.

The protest is being tacitly backed by serving soldiers in the armed forces who hope “that the government will be shamed that those who fought for the country are now on the streets asking for their dues at India Gate”.

The ex-servicemen, among them gallantry-award winning former generals, are taking the protest against the Sixth Pay Commission to the public because serving soldiers are forbidden from forming unions and associations to vent grievances in public.

But even the chief of army staff, General Deepak Kapoor, made a departure from past practice when he said at the army commanders’ conference earlier this month that the pay panel’s recommendations were not satisfactory and were affecting the morale of the force.

The ex-servicemen, led by a gallantry award winner, Major General (retired) Satbir Singh, had also planned a protest on April 28 at the India Gate that shelters the memorial to the unknown soldier. But they were not given permission.

The protesters on May 27 will count in their ranks several former generals. General (retired) A.S. Malik, the army chief during the 1999 Kargil war, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging that the Centre improve on the pay panel’s recommendations.

Leaflets and emails circulated by the ex-servicemen’s association say the veterans will go on a hunger strike “because we have finished with all other avenues of protest”.

The Centre has set up a committee to review the pay panel’s recommendations but the ex-servicemen point out that there is no one re- presenting them on the committee.

They are demanding military service pay at 62.5 per cent of the basic salary for personnel below officer rank and 56. 5 per cent of basic pay for officers.

A spokesperson for the protesters said there would be 100 rallies in 30 towns and cities across the country on May 27.