The Central Government has been watching its every step in Iraq, but it couldn’t have seen this while looking over its shoulder. Ex-defence officials, approached by Gulf-based placement agencies for security-related jobs, are hotfooting it over to the war-ravaged country. Alarmed, the Western Command Headquarters has declared an alert.Recently, it sent a communique marked ‘confidential’ to officers concerned instructing that the practice needs to be ‘‘monitored vigorously’’ and ‘‘curbed’’ since sending retired defence personnel to serve in Iraq is against ‘‘laid down’’ government orders. Officers have been directed to ‘‘educate the environment’’ on the issue and also ‘‘inform’’ Western Command HQ of any case that may come to their notice.Earlier, there were reports of 500 ex-servicemen from Kerala being recruited by a Kuwaiti firm supplying men and material to US forces based in Iraq. The Kerala government had ordered a probe into the matter. Most of the men who were hired had served in the infantry, artillery and armoured corps of the Army.While this is not the first time Indians are being employed as security personnel in the Gulf, the salaries being offered to the ex-Armymen are much higher, fuelling concern that they may not be deployed in routine duties. The Rajya Sainik Board offices at Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have also been alerted, while a message has been posted on the ex-servicemen helpline website.Commenting on the threat perception, a senior Army officer told The Indian Express that there is a ‘‘very high possibility’’ of ‘‘guarded information’’ being misused due to such recruitments. ‘‘Defence personnel have inside information about a lot of things, about the country’s preparedness levels as also about its inherent strengths and weaknesses. If they are roped in, information can easily go to wrong hands,’’ he warns. He adds that for the recruitment agencies, it’s a ‘‘win-win’’ situation since they get trained manpower at a much cheaper rate, apart from being privy to classified information.Among those approached was a retired brigadier. Refusing to be named, he says he was told he could make in months what he had earned in a lifetime of service in the Army. He was tempted but eventually preferred to stick to his pension of a few thousand rupees. ‘‘I would have definitely been placed much better,’’ he says. ‘‘But then money isn’t everything, especially where national security is concerned.’’He was approached through a pointsman who promised that his monthly pay would start around Rs 40,000. Pointing out that India had decided against sending troops to Iraq, he said this may be an attempt to force a backdoor entry. He also added the US was desperate for countries volunteering for duty in Iraq. ‘‘Americans are very shy of casualty. Even if one soldier dies, there’s a lot of hue and cry.’’
