NATIONAL SECURITY: WHAT IS IT AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

NATIONAL SECURITY: WHAT IS IT AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE ? 

In recent years, issue of National Security has become a ping - ping ball and everyone was kicking it. From Media to social organisations like RSS; National Security advisor ( NSA) to State Chief Ministers ; Politicians to bureaucracy and government organs such as MHA , MOD and MEA, all of them have been behaving as if security of the nation was their sole responsibility. There is an utter confusion. 

Does any one of these people / organisations know what comprises national security ? Chief of a social organisation thinks that in three days he can create a private Army who can handle security more effectively than current bunch of Security forces. A state Chief Minister thinks that she was the boss and AFSPA-1958 (Armed Forces Special Power Act ) is all bunkum. She ordered lodging of a FIR against an army officer who acted in self Defence when some miscreants pelted stone on his party. Some times back highest court of the land had passed an order to say that FIR would. be lodged in all cases of encounters. 

Then, there is a lot of confusion between National Security and Law and order problems. Not only this, National Security has been further sliced into Internal and External security and being assigned to different organs of Central Government. NSA to MHA; MOD to State Governments, have, thus, all become Executive Authority to conduct national Security operations. When there are so many bosses, confusion has to take place as it did during terrorist Attack on Pathankot Air Force Base on 01 January 2016 and more recently during terrorist attack on Sunjuwan Military Garrison on 11 February 2018. 

There are number of such incidents. Why does everyone wants to get into the arena.? Simple answer is that Terrorism and Counter Terrorism have become a Glamour Bazar for everyone whether one, who perpetrated terror and the other who counters it. Lack of clear cut definition and areas of responsibilities make everyone rush into it to get their pound of flesh. 

National security can not be segmented into compartments and thus distributed as sweets to different proponents. It must have a single executive authority, whether it was internal threat or external threat. Unfortunately, India has divided this role between Home Ministry and Defence Ministry. On top of that, there is the confusion about law and order problem, which is a state subject. Herein lies the glitch. It needs to be sorted out by defining National Security and Law and order. 

National security is the assessment of intended, demonstrable and executed threats to national integrity and unity by external and internal foes. It is one big whole and it can not be segmented. Internal foes are separatists and terrorists. They need to be treated as "enemies" and not as "our Misguided Boys". Unfortunately, "our misguided boys" concept leads to ineffective and half cocked measures to deal with internal threats. We, courts and legal system included, fail to note that whoever picks up arms against India, is her enemy. This is the position of the constitution of India. This brooks no non- sense approach, when AFSPA was imposed in a region or a state. Security forces must have a free hand. Appeasement and softness are the biggest enemy of internal security measures. 

Armed forces of a nation are organised and equipped to deal with these threat to national security. Therefore, the responsibility of national security must devolve upon armed forces, whether it has a CDS (Chief Of Defence Staff) or not. Defence Minister can take on this tole till government decides to appoint a CDS. But with the fast spreading insurgency and militancy across the nation, the need for a CDS is becoming utmost. NSA can not take on his role because he must focus on strategic affairs and regional environments. NSA can only advise the Ministry of Defence but he cannot be executive authority. 

Ministry of Home affairs must focus on Law and Order for which it has Central Reserve Police (CRPF) and state police forces. Time has come when threat to a nation needs to be defined in broad terms. Some of the issue clubbed with Law and order needs to be delinked. Mass agitations, communal violence, organised crime under Mafia, such as drug/ Narcotics trafficking, Smuggling, Militancy and terrorism must fall into the ambit of National Security. Therefore all such forces dealing with them be assigned to MOD. This would include BSF, ITBP, CISF , SB, Assam Rifles and so on. 

Law and order should focus on individual crimes such as murder, extortion, kidnapping, criminal harassment, crime against women and children and corruption. CRPF should be an added force with the centre to beef up state police. Conduct of elections can be grouped under Law and order. 

In order to ensure proper coordination of national security, one has to get at the most potent threat endangering a nation. To do so , we might have to fall back on the sayings of Chanakya or Kautilya. According to him, there were four kinds of threat to a nation. One , which emanates from outside but aided and abetted from outside. Two which emanates from inside but also aided and abetted from insides.,Three , which emanates from outside but is aided and abetted from inside. The last one, more dangerous is the one emanated from inside and aided and abetted from outside. 

It is the last one which India needs to focus--- whether it was North East, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab or J& K. It is therefore utmost important that overall responsibility must lay with MOD, who should work out an internal Security Grid and allocate forces accordingly. This job must not be left to state Governments. 

Having done this, we ought to look at AFSPA- 1958. It was designed to deal with Naga Insurgency in 1958 to provide immunity to soldiers. However over the years, Insurgency has taken more diabolical shape with political and legal complications. It needs to be replaced by COZA-2018 ( Combat Zone Act ) , which would ensure once a state has been placed under COZA, state governments would not interfere with the national security apparatus , as has been happening in NE and J& K. The declaration power be given to combined Houses of the parliament and not with central Government. Once COZA was imposed in a state/ region then, only High courts and Supreme Court be allowed to intervene in so called alleged atrocities by soldiers. Time has come to act tough .