It doesnt take much to generate outrage these days, thanks to both mainstream and social media. However, the kerfuffle over the "human shield" incident has been a topic worthy of debate. Using a civilian as a shield to facilitate tricky counter insurgency operations is neither new nor unusual - either in India or outside - but the images of a civilian tied to the bonnet of the jeep driving through villages is undeniably evokes strong reactions.
Mizoram
The Mizo insurgency was one of the first such challenges faced by independent India. On Mar 2, 1966, the Mizo National Army (MNA), the primary Mizo insurgency group, overran large parts of Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, as well as a few smaller towns around it. It included the Treasury, Armoury as well as the Assam Rifles headquarters. After the initial attempts by the Indian Army to relieve the city was beaten back, the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Air Force (IAF) to conduct operations. In the first (and till now, only) case, IAF fighters strafed Aizawl with guns and bombs, destroyed large parts of the city, and killed several civilians. But the operation succeeded, MNA melted away into the jungles, and the might of the Indian state was re-established in Aizawl.
In 1967, the Eastern Command of the Army, led by Gen Maneckshaw, launched a programme called "regrouping of villages". It basically meant driving out villagers from villages and grouping them in fewer hamlets (called Progressive and Protected Villages, or PPV). The idea was it would be easier to monitor fewer number of villages and therefore cut off the support to MNA from the populace living in the rural hinterland. some 500 villages were regrouped into 100 odd PPVs - it accounted for 95% of Aizawl's rural population. Did it work? Open question, but the last PPV was dismantled only in 1980, 6 years before the Mizo Accord that ended the insurgency. It was one of a large bouquet of measures required to tackle a well armed insurgent group.
Punjab
One of the deadliest challenges faced by the Indian state. KPS Gill is widely credited for ending the insurgency, using unconventional means that would not pass muster in "normal" situations. One of them was the "hostage" strategy. A tactic that was a straight lift from the terrorist playbook, it involved picking up (either physically by the police, or through more discrete means) members of the families of known terrorists. Keeping such hostages achieved two purposes. One, it meant that terrorists left the families of policemen (most of whom came from rural Punjab) alone. Two, it worked as a lever for select influential leaders of Khalistan groups to come forward and assist the police in exchange for the security of their families. This was carried out widely in rural Punjab, which is where bulk of the Khalistan leadership emanated from.
The result was a resounding success. This, along with many other measures, helped end the militancy by 1995, barely 11 years after Op Bluestar. In 1985, it was the greatest national security threat faced by India, and no one could imagine that it would be defeated by 1995.
Naxalite movement in West Bengal
There was a time in the late '60/early '70s when the city of Calcutta was literally hostage to the depradations of Naxalites. Policemen were killed in broad daylight, businessmen killed and driven off and the slogan of "China's Chairman is our Chairman" adorned most walls of the city. Biggest issue was the urban middle class sympathy for the movement - some of the brightest young boys from middle/upper middle class families provided leadership to the Naxals. Under an unconventional police chief, Ranjit Gupta, the state (and central) govt turned the tide using what can be mildly termed strong arm tactics. To start with, the police started randomly picking up students from hostels known for their Left wing activism. Many of them were sent to jail and kept without trial for years. Several were simply shot in cold blood. Many families were given a stark choice - to send their boy out of Bengal (preferably out of India), or see him incarcerated or killed soon. Most families exercised the former option. It was a campaign that sent shivers down the cities of Bengal, but it slowly but surely cut the oxygen of fresh recruits to the Naxal movement. By the mid/late '70s, Naxalism had ceased to be a threat to the state.
These are but a few instances. Counter Insurgency (CI) is a complex, dirty business. Hearts and minds is identified as key to CI, but any such campaign can only succeed once the majesty of the state has been established. A neutral populace will tend to side with the group wielding the most coercive power.
Ergo, its perhaps unfair to judge the officer who took the Human Shield call. The Indian Army (and state) have adopted far more distasteful tactics in defence of the state in the past, and succeeded. They were necessary to defend the freedoms and ideas of India for the vast majority of India's citizens.
Besides the usual battle lines between "liberals" and "right wing", an interesting divergence has been in the military circles, with several ex-servicemen coming out against the modus operandi adopted by Maj Gogoi in this case. They have quoted Geneva Convention, Indian Army ethos, counter insurgency doctrines and more. As Lt Gen H S Panag, ex-Army Commander, summarised,
"The image of an alleged ‘stone pelter’ tied in front of a vehicle as a ‘human shield’, will forever haunt the Indian Army and the nation"
Honour is essential to a professional army. But the top brass in Indian defence, at both the military and the ministry level, seem to have forgotten that.But is it really so? Is the human shield the first time a somewhat distasteful tactic has been used in countering insurgency? Or is it but another in a series of such innovations that the Indian security establishment has had to adopt to counter the threat of insurgencies and terror? Lets look at a few examples.
Mizoram
The Mizo insurgency was one of the first such challenges faced by independent India. On Mar 2, 1966, the Mizo National Army (MNA), the primary Mizo insurgency group, overran large parts of Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, as well as a few smaller towns around it. It included the Treasury, Armoury as well as the Assam Rifles headquarters. After the initial attempts by the Indian Army to relieve the city was beaten back, the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Air Force (IAF) to conduct operations. In the first (and till now, only) case, IAF fighters strafed Aizawl with guns and bombs, destroyed large parts of the city, and killed several civilians. But the operation succeeded, MNA melted away into the jungles, and the might of the Indian state was re-established in Aizawl.
In 1967, the Eastern Command of the Army, led by Gen Maneckshaw, launched a programme called "regrouping of villages". It basically meant driving out villagers from villages and grouping them in fewer hamlets (called Progressive and Protected Villages, or PPV). The idea was it would be easier to monitor fewer number of villages and therefore cut off the support to MNA from the populace living in the rural hinterland. some 500 villages were regrouped into 100 odd PPVs - it accounted for 95% of Aizawl's rural population. Did it work? Open question, but the last PPV was dismantled only in 1980, 6 years before the Mizo Accord that ended the insurgency. It was one of a large bouquet of measures required to tackle a well armed insurgent group.
Punjab
One of the deadliest challenges faced by the Indian state. KPS Gill is widely credited for ending the insurgency, using unconventional means that would not pass muster in "normal" situations. One of them was the "hostage" strategy. A tactic that was a straight lift from the terrorist playbook, it involved picking up (either physically by the police, or through more discrete means) members of the families of known terrorists. Keeping such hostages achieved two purposes. One, it meant that terrorists left the families of policemen (most of whom came from rural Punjab) alone. Two, it worked as a lever for select influential leaders of Khalistan groups to come forward and assist the police in exchange for the security of their families. This was carried out widely in rural Punjab, which is where bulk of the Khalistan leadership emanated from.
The result was a resounding success. This, along with many other measures, helped end the militancy by 1995, barely 11 years after Op Bluestar. In 1985, it was the greatest national security threat faced by India, and no one could imagine that it would be defeated by 1995.
Naxalite movement in West Bengal
There was a time in the late '60/early '70s when the city of Calcutta was literally hostage to the depradations of Naxalites. Policemen were killed in broad daylight, businessmen killed and driven off and the slogan of "China's Chairman is our Chairman" adorned most walls of the city. Biggest issue was the urban middle class sympathy for the movement - some of the brightest young boys from middle/upper middle class families provided leadership to the Naxals. Under an unconventional police chief, Ranjit Gupta, the state (and central) govt turned the tide using what can be mildly termed strong arm tactics. To start with, the police started randomly picking up students from hostels known for their Left wing activism. Many of them were sent to jail and kept without trial for years. Several were simply shot in cold blood. Many families were given a stark choice - to send their boy out of Bengal (preferably out of India), or see him incarcerated or killed soon. Most families exercised the former option. It was a campaign that sent shivers down the cities of Bengal, but it slowly but surely cut the oxygen of fresh recruits to the Naxal movement. By the mid/late '70s, Naxalism had ceased to be a threat to the state.
These are but a few instances. Counter Insurgency (CI) is a complex, dirty business. Hearts and minds is identified as key to CI, but any such campaign can only succeed once the majesty of the state has been established. A neutral populace will tend to side with the group wielding the most coercive power.
Ergo, its perhaps unfair to judge the officer who took the Human Shield call. The Indian Army (and state) have adopted far more distasteful tactics in defence of the state in the past, and succeeded. They were necessary to defend the freedoms and ideas of India for the vast majority of India's citizens.
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