Air Marshal spills beans on 'hypocrisy'
OUR CORRESPONDENT Barbora speaks at the media conference in Shillong. Picture by Eastern Projections Shillong, April 2: The indifference of successive governments and disillusionment with the "hypocritical" conduct of seniors have forced a large number of officers from the Northeast to quit the services. That was Air Marshal P.K. Barbora's first observation after he assumed charge as air officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Air Command. Addressing a news conference in Shillong, Barbora said several efficient young officers of the Northeast were leaving the services because they were "highly sentimental" and could not cope with the "hypocritical" attitude of their seniors. "The indifferent attitude of the earlier governments towards the Northeast, coupled with a feeling of alienation, have led the defence forces to a situation where it has a negligible number of personnel from the Northeast. Earlier governments tried to use the same yardstick for all problems in the region and that led to chaos," he said, adding that the situation was changing gradually. Barbora was born in Shillong and also did his schooling here. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot and fought the 1971 war for liberation of Bangladesh. He succeeds F.H. Major, who has gone on to become the Air Chief Marshal, and is the first officer of the Air Force from Shillong and the Northeast to become air marshal. The rank is equivalent to that of a three-star army general. The officer said modernisation of airfields like the one at Tezpur in Assam was on his list of priorities, as was the implementation of the Force Multipliers Programme. Sophisticated missiles are to be added to the IAF's arsenal under this programme http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070403/asp/northeast/story_7598466.asp
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