He is over 90, but the firm handshake and the quick wit are still in place. Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who was honoured this afternoon at the concluding session of the country’s first conclave for former Army chiefs, said, ‘‘Everything in the Army is much better than when I was Army chief. I offer no advice to the Army. It is the Army chief’s responsibility.’’ After a studied pause, he added: ‘‘When I was Army chief, I did not take advice from anyone.’’Manekshaw, who inspected a parade of the 61 Cavalry in the Capital, said: ‘‘We came here to see what is happening in the Army’’, and ‘‘none of us had the affrontery to give the Army any advice. We listened to the Army’s issues.’’The eight retired Army chiefs, who attended the function, were made to subject the Army’s soon-to-be-finalised war doctrine to a close scrutiny, and they felt that there needed to be an inter-services doctrine at the Defence Ministry level.Former Army chief Gen V.P. Malik told The Indian Express, ‘‘We were shown the Army’s war doctrine and are fine by it. However, our view was that there needs to be a larger, more comprehensive inter-services doctrine.’’
