'Call every officer, enrolled person of the army’: Centre empowers Army Chief to summon auxiliary forces

The Central Government has empowered the Chief of the Army Staff to summon every officer and enrolled person of the Territorial Army to provide for essential guard or to be embodied for supporting or supplementing the regular army for three years, reads a notification from the Ministry of Defence.

According to the order, the government, in the powers vested in the Territorial Army Rule 1948, has empowered the army chief to embody the 14 Infantry Battalions (Territorial Army)—out of the existing 32 Infantry Battalions—for deployment in the areas of Southern Command, Eastern Command, Western Command, Central Command, Northern Command, South Western Command, Andaman and Nicobar Command, and Army Training Command (ATARC).

The order, dated May 6, reads that the embodiment shall be ordered provided the funds are available in the budget or have been made available by reappropriating the internal savings in the budget. In case any units are embodied at the behest of ministries other than the Ministry of Defence, the cost will be incurred by the respective ministries and will not be included in the budget allocation of the Ministry of Defence. The order will remain enforced till February 9, 2028.

According to the order, the government, in the powers vested in the Territorial Army Rule 1948, has empowered the army chief for the embodiment of the 14 Infantry Battalions (Territorial Army)—out of the existing 32 Infantry Battalions—for deployment in the areas of Southern Command, Eastern Command, Western Command, Central Command, Northern Command, South Western Command, Andaman and Nicobar Command and Army Training Command (ATARC).

This order comes at time amid heightened escalations with Pakistan. In the intervening hours of May 8 and 9, India swiftly thwarted a concerted attack on military stations at Jammu, Pathankot, and Udhampur using Pakistani-origin drones and missiles along the international border in Jammu & Kashmir.

According to Suneel Bartwal, public relations officer and spokesperson, Ministry of Defence, Jammu and Kashmir, the incoming threats were “swiftly neutralised” using “kinetic and non-kinetic” capabilities that were in line with the established standard operating procedures. Bartwal also clarified that no casualties or material losses were reported.

Apart from the armed attack, a disinformation campaign was also thwarted by the government’s fact-checking department. The Press Information Bureau (PIB)’s Fact-Checking team, which busts fake news and misinformation related to the government, has issued as many as eight alerts, debunking propaganda circulating on social media intended to create panic among the public,

The team debunked false claims about ATM closures, aircraft incidents, and military attacks. The PIB exhorts civilians to disregard unverified social media posts and rely only on official channels for accurate information.