" Violence will only bring greater miseries to common people. We have to counter this (Maoist/Naxalite) threat with determination. But while violence can not be tolerated, tribals must be the primary beneficiaries of the development process.-------------But No sustained(development) is possible under the shadow of the gun.Nor have those who claim to speak for the Tribals have offered an alternative economic or social path that is viable----------------" Dr. Man Mohan Singh, Prime Minister Of India, while inaugurating conference of Chief Ministers and state ministers of tribal affairs on the implementation of 'Forest Rights Act 2006' as reported in The Tribune, dated November 05, 2009.
It is undoubtedly true that any movement supported by the people has their genuine concerns, which had remained unattended and uncared for a considerable period of time by the 'powers that be'.The real causes have been rightly observed and listed by Mr.Ashok Sahu, as brought out in Part One. Therefore, I do believe that Naxalites/Maoist movement is a result of consistent neglect and exploitation of the poor people which includes socially downtrodden, tribal and the farmers. While their land and forest wealth is being exploited, they have not been adequately compensated for in terms of development, health care, basic social amenities and employment opportunities.
This needs attention of the State and Central Governments. I won't like to dwell much on this as there were many qualified people to work out a blue print for the betterment of the lives of affected people in the Naxalite infected areas. Dr Man Mohan Singh, as quoted above, has clearly revealed two-pronged government policy to deal with Naxalites/Maoists menace. Development and growth with sincerity would be the biggest disincentive for the locals to not only not to support the Maoists but also not to provide easy recruits to be used as canon-fodder against security forces by the Maoists.
I would like to devote more time to military strategy to combat Maoists/Naxalites. In modern military parlance this kind of warfare has been named as SUB-CONVENTIONAL WARFARE or even FOURTH GENERATION WARFARE. But come what may, I would prefer to call it as 'War by Other Means' (WOM) . This appropriately describes the conditions we are facing. Indian Maoists have suddenly become very active after the success of Maoists of Nepal. There is no denying the fact that they have chosen to confront the nation with active assistance from China. Even home secretary, Mr. GK Pillai, confirmed this in his media conference on November 08, 2009, when he returned from Nepal. So, we are in a state of war thrust upon us. Dr Man Mohan Singh has rightly pointed out that no sustained development activity can take place as long as there was fear of the gun. It must be silenced or neutralized to usher the age of growth and development. One can not say, "What First". Both must start concurrently. But operations by Security forces have to be extensive and all-encompassing to allow foot hold for growth and development.
I always hold a view and very passionately that the best medicine for 'terrorism' was 'terrorism'. Put the fear of God in the Terrorists. Siege the initiative and let them be hunted and be on the run. They are rats when death haunts them. Yea, you heard me right because in most cases, the game of terrorism does not provide a leveled playing field for the security forces. A lot of restrictions are laid by the authorities to conduct operations. Such provisions not only prolong the ordeal but also allows militants and terrorists to regroup and reorganize. A number of outside actors , such as media, human rights organisations and local politicians have vested interests to slow down the operations. Even international pressure is built to prevent total elimination of the insurgent organisations. This is the duty of the authority who orders security forces to conduct anti-militant/anti-terrorist operations to withstand such unwanted interference. It must be recognised that, as a diversionary tactics, the militants would use such ruses to exaggerate the alleged cases of violations of human rights, molestation and rape. Government must have its own sources to verify and authenticate.
The successful conduct of anti-militancy/ insurgency operations , whether in Indian Punjab in the 90s of the last Century or Sri Lanka in the year 2008-09, bears testimony to what I have said. Even Malayan insurgency in the 50's was put down by British forces with a heavy hand. Moralistic sing-songs are unwarranted when security forces have been given a mandate to destroy the enemy. It was Beant Singh, late Chief minister of Punjab who did not dither in asking his police to cut diamond with diamond, meaning use all kinds of methods to eliminate the militant leaders. At times people call these kind of operations as illegal. It might be so but there is no alternative as long as the other side does not accept your laws. They openly challenge your constitution. It is only their front line organisations who cry aloud in the name of Human rights. President Rajpakshe of Sri Lanka rightly kept all these human rights organisations at bay and he succeeded in demolishing the invincible LTTE and its Supremo Prabhakaran.
Nation and the government must understand that as for as security forces were concerned , it would be a war against the 'enemy of the State'. There should be no cries for "Our Innocent and Misguided Boys". The person who kills his own country men most brutally and flaunts his weapons openly can not be "innocent and misguided". They say that it was war and war it should be. No half -hearted measures to be undertaken, if we recognize anti-Maoist operations as war. When the war takes place, definitely a lot of bloodshed occurs and sometimes genuine mistakes would be committed. The first principle of fighting this war successfully is to exonerate security forces of the collateral damage that would take place when they use force against the 'enemy'. The Maoists are treating it as war, why would the security forces operate with their one or two hands tied at the back. The 'Peace Brigade' of Maoists apologists in the form of their front line political organisations, Foreign- backed NGOs and their Indian beneficiaries, Human Rights Organisations and misinformed Indian legal luminaries must be kept at bay. Security forces should be allowed to legally sue journalists and media for false publication of reports of rape, molestation and extortion. Willful distortion of facts by media persons must be a non-bailable offence.
I must add here that once the problem is resolved government must provide immunity from legal harassment to officers and men on flimsy grounds. There have been cases in the past when police officers had to commit suicide. The case of Ajit Singh, a retired police officer of Punjab, comes to mind. In the heydays of militancy in Punjab, he was the hero of anti-militancy operations in Tarn Taran. This was the region where militants writ ran and it was a 'Free Zone' for them. He eliminated them with a heavy hand. But after the normalcy returned,he was so badly harassed by legal cases that he committed suicide by throwing himself before the train. One fails to see all these legal bodies and human rights organisations being active when terrorists/ militants play havoc with normal civil life. Do policemen and security forces have no human rights?. God alone, knows where had they hibernated when the JHARKHAND POLICE OFFICER was beheaded by the Maoists? I did not even hear a wimp of a whisper. Even today , a large number of army officers are hauled up by courts in Assam and Nagaland for their acts committed decades ago. This sure would discourage future combatants of terrorism/insurgency to effectively combat the terrorists. Our legal system is a big dampener on the security forces operations.
Police, all over India, has become ineffective because of such lacunae in our legal system. The cases keep lingering on for decades. Witnesses and investigating officers are eliminated or compromised. There are for too many temptations, allurements and inducements, coupled with discouragements for the police officers to let the cases procrastinate. Consequently, they adopt not only "play safe" attitude but also materialistically benefited. There is a time for the country to think about police reforms and also distinguish between Law and order and Internal security. In fact I am of the opinion that Law and Order must become part of Internal security, which must be a Central Government responsibility. The state Police ought to be invested with the responsibility of only crime investigation and law implementation. Guarding, protection and security of installations must pass on to more vibrant and all India Internal Security Force with security hub initially in each of the 233 Maoists- infected districts and then, later, all 604 districts of India. The Internal security force must be patterned on the lines of FBI of USA. It must have the mandate to act anywhere in the country, if internal security is threatened.
The military strategy and tactics against the Maoists/ Naxalites must be based on close central coordination but decentralized execution. Intelligence apparatus must be effective to provide actionable, tactical and strategic intelligence. Half the battle is won without any action if the information is precise, accurate and timely. Intelligence must be coordinated through a single agency. Too many cooks spoil the broth. There is always a human angle which runs through the contours of personal jealousy, rivalry, self-promotion and materialistic gains.
In fact intelligence operations must be as part of a 'Unified Command' for anti-militancy/insurgency operations. Unified command would include military, paramilitary, police and other governmental resources of centre and state governments. Even the agencies conducting developmental activities must be dovetailed into Unified Command. This command must be answerable to the Home Minister of India, who is responsible for the Internal security of the country. Defence Ministry be left to deal with only external threat and security.
There might be case for the resources of Defence Ministry to be dedicated to Unified Command. But once allocated, they must stay till completion of task. In any case, there is a need to cut the flab of army to make it more 'agile and smart' in view of the 'Brain force wars' or the 'Smart wars' under nuclear threat. We may find that 'foot infantry' may have a very limited role in the 'Brain Force Wars' under nuclear clouds of south Asia in 21st century. Therefore, 60-70% can be allocated to Unified command under Home Ministry. There might be resistance by the army and the Defence Ministry. But this opposition would be more of an emotional expression than any realistic appreciation of the logic. In a nuclear environs, normal infantry is a sitting duck for a 'Nuclear Hunter'. In any case, it is not being disbanded and it would be available on demand from 'Unified Command' once the need arises.
The strategy further envisages establishment of Counter-Militancy Grid (CMG) in the Maoist Infected areas.This CMG should take into account the district hubs so created. Once the CMG is created, then there will not be easy interaction between the Maoists and the local populace. This will cut down the free movement and contain the Maoists into specific areas. Once contained , they would be easily isolated, leading to their break in contact with the people and thus loss of support, too. CMG must also launch certain developmental activities to mollify the local population and thus wean them away from the Maoists and their leaders.
CMG must begin its operations at low key initially to identify the militants and gain information. It is generally seen that any insurgency has only 20-25 % hard core cadres, who are generally the leaders. 75-80 % are either wage earners for their families or they are coerced to join the militants. But the leaders, over a period of times get so much intoxicated with the powers they enjoy that they lose touch with the general public. Their contact is through these 'ERRAND BOYS' who make 75-80% of their strength. The initial operations must be aimed at creating the wedge between these two classes of militants. Break the channel and see the confusion. I had done this in Assam in 90-91 and the stampede began.
All operations must be 'small scale, target- based and unorthodox'. These three tenets are the key to successful conduct of operations. Large scale operations are predictable and cause a lot of hardships to the local people which leads to resentment against the security forces. The targets must be the Leaders and not the small time cadres and operatives. Cadres should be arrested and released and create suspicion about their future loyalty. This will create dissensions amongst the militants.
Target-based operations are akin to 'Searching a Needle in the Hay -stack'. There are two ways of doing it. One is to turn the hay stack upset down and put your men to locate it. It is time consuming , laborious and causing inconvenience to general public. The other way is to have pin-pointed information of the needle's location in the hay stack. This is what i call 'actionable intelligence. This can be only done by inculcating an insider. In other parlance, they call the insider a 'Mole'. I tried it in Assam in 90-91 and it was grossly effective. The success story of anti-terrorism and counter militancy operations in Punjab was written with the help of these moles, operated by the so called "Cat squads' or the 'missile squads'. I am convinced that the demise of LTTE in Sri Lanka was brought about by 'Col Karuna' and his men operating in LTTE. I won't be surprised if Prabhakaran was shot dead at close range by one of 'Col Karuna's' sharpshooters in LTTE.
No doubt, in their over-enthusiasm some times these cat squads of Punjab had conducted operations outside the jurisdiction of Punjab and as far as KolKotta in West Bengal. So much so that they never informed the local police, fearing that the information might be leaked out to target. Policemen know better their colleagues of whichever state. But, they did neutralize the leaders on the run. In one of my operations in Assam against ULFA, my lead had gone right up to Lucknow. But we handed over the further operations to higher headquarters, who, then successfully busted the gun supplying racket through railway parcels.
The creation of 'mole' is not a one day affair. It is a matter of creating faith in the intended person and it takes time. You have to ensure that the person is made the most wanted man in your list. you have to plant this information through word of mouth and whisper. Sometimes, deliberate operations might be carried out against his family to show them being harassed.Counter-militancy is a game of 'wits and brain' and not of force and brawn'.
Finally, to conclude I must say that the strategy must be evolved to recognize the dimension of the problem, identify the actors, and then contain, isolate,neutralize and rehabilitate along with economic development of the region to remove the legitimate grievances of the people. It is going to be a long drawn out battle. Let there be 'NO OBAMA' amongst our leaders crying for an 'Exit-Policy'. There would be lot of interference by visible and invisible organisations both Indian and foreign, to stall the security forces operations. The government of the day must stand up to it. Foreign-funding and aid must be choked at the recognized entry points. The internal security system needs to have a broader umbrella of dedicated force with its district-level hubs. We can not view law and order problems in isolation. In fact, the trouble in Nandi gram and Singur, from where TATA was booted out, needs also to be viewed as part of Internal security operations. More recent case of Lal Garh adds testimony to this proposal. Army may have to shed its flab to become a 'smart army for smart wars'. its flab would do more active and constructive role in internal security. The legal system needs to be reformed and police must be revamped. I have talked about certain kind of tactics too. it is for those who have to rough it out in the Maoist controlled territory. It would come handy to them.
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