Indian raid on insurgent camps heralds assertive strategy against trans-border extremism.
Col R HARIHARAN @colhari2
| POLITICS |
6-minute read |
11-06-2015
The successful raids by Indian army
commando on two camps of motley collection of Northeast insurgent groups under
the leadership of the Naga Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang group
(NSCN-K) across Manipur-Myanmar border was much more than a tactical response
of hot pursuit after insurgents ambushed a column of 6Dogra Regiment soldiers
killing 18 a few days back in Chandel district of Manipur.
It heralds the Modi government's
strategy of assertive action against insurgent operations carried out from foreign
bases. As the Minister of State for Defence RS Rathore explained it means
wresting and retaining the initiative at all times rather than allowing the
insurgents to gain upper hand and respond reactively.
This marks a welcome shift from the
government's reactive strategy of the past in the Northeast accepting the
status quo to contain rather than culling out insurgents. Our piecemeal
responses seemed to lack composite master plan of political and military
actions. This had sent conflicting messages to the hapless population and
reflected New Delhi's benign neglect of the region much to the disgust of
locals. For years they have borne the brunt of poor governance, lawlessness and
corruption sapping the vitals of society all in the name of fighting insurgency,
which seemed never ending. People have been disappointed for too long. Unless the
Modi government follows up its military operations with the implementation of a
composite strategy to improve the lot of the common man and tone up
administration it will not make much headway in the troubled region. The moot
point is can New Delhi do it?
The second aspect is specific to the
Northeast. The Commando raid was not unexpected. It was perhaps the last straw
for the Army which had been unhappy with the drift in India's Northeast policy.
And the successful execution of trans-border operation is a big morale booster
for both the Army and the government. It provided the Modi government a
political opportunity to demonstrate it is a government of action as a lot of
questions have been raised about the large gap between its promises and
performance in one year of rule.
It all started with the Indian
government refusing in March 2015 to extend its ceasefire agreement with the
NSCN-K's as it continued to violate it with impunity. The peeved Naga
outfit operating from bases in Myanmar started carrying out a number of small raids
trans-border raids on security forces in which as many as 30 people had lost
their lives.
The commando raids described
officially as a “hot pursuit” were carried out on two insurgent camps across
Chandel and had all the ingredients for success: surprise, overwhelming
firepower and speed. Drones and helicopter gunships were used
effectively. It was well supported by real time intelligence as per media
reports. They quoted 'sources' (obviously from government) to estimate
insurgent casualty varying from 28 to 118 killed out of about 150 in the camp.
Commandos returned without any loss. Of course, extremists have claimed the
news about the raids as mere propaganda as they had left the camp for the
funeral of ' Major' Rajanglong of NSCN-K and another cadre killed in 6 DOGRA
ambush.
The Myanmar army pleaded ignorance
about the raid though Indian ambassador had informed Myanmar President Thein
Sein immediately after the raid. Though the President's office acknowledged the
raid, it said the raid was carried out in Indian soil. This was not unexpected.
But these issues do not matter because government's larger message of
cautioning neighbours not to allow anti-Indian extremists in their midst has
been conveyed to all, loud and clear.
For many years the whole of Northeast
had been held to ransom by the sporadic activities of about a dozen Northeast
insurgent groups that had periodically taken refuge in Bangladesh and
Myanmar hinterlands to scuttle the region's return to normal life.
This had kept the embers of
separatism and extremism burning. After Sheikh Hasina came to power there was a
change in Bangladesh's attitude to these sanctuaries. It drove them out or
handed them over to India. Paresh Barua an important leader of the United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) fled to Myanmar. Myanmar’s borders have
remained porous as people of same tribal affinity living 20 km on both sides of
the border are allowed to move freely for border trade.
For a long time these areas ceased to
be the focus areas of Myanmar army as it was already stretched due to its
preoccupation with the larger Kachin, Shan, Karen and Kokang insurgent groups.
They have continued to be intractable.
So Northeast insurgents managed to
establish safe havens in Myanmar from which they make hit and
run raids. This had thwarted down the government efforts to end extremism in
Northeast. But the question is how will the government follow it up?
The raids probably broke up the
efforts of the ULFA(Paresh Baruah), Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, National
Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) and NSCN-K to unite all insurgent
groups under the umbrella of the United National Liberation Front of Western
Southeast Asia(UNLFWSEA). It would have attracted other smaller outfits like
Manipur's Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and Kanglaipak Communist Party
(KCP).
The Indian raid across the
border has substantiated action of the much proclaimed policy of not
allowing acts of extremism on Indian soil to be carried out from foreign
bases about which India had talked for years. So it has sent a strong
message to Pakistan that Modi government means business. So naturally
Pakistan's top leadership from NSA to Army chief seem to have been rattled if
we go by their statements.
Apparently the raids had their
ripples in China too as Chinese arms traffickers are the main source for
supplying modern weapons to various insurgent groups. The Chinese border
continue to be a source of weapons for insurgents. It is likely to be read with
Modi's strong message about the need for sensitivity about Chinese troop
intrusions given on earlier occasions.
Obviously, Pakistan and China will
require highly nuanced strategies before India can contemplate such punitive
actions as both the nations are qualitatively different from Myanmar with many
more international ramifications. But Modi has managed to revamp India's
relations with its other neighbours including Myanmar and Bangladesh which are
better than ever before. This would help India to deal from a position of
strength with its estranged neighbour Pakistan which could discourage it
from indulging in ISI's dirty tricks in India in collusion with Jihadi
terrorists. At least Pakistan will have to think twice about it in future.
So political parties would do well to
understand the government's statement of policy on assertive response to
trans-border terrorism in the larger national context rather than describing it
as "jingoistic" or "boasting" as done by the Congress party,
which is at best petty.
Courtesy: India Today Opinion portal DailyO
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