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Thread: Understanding Indian Insurgencies

  1. #181
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    Manipur ambush: Why Army saw the worst attack in 20 years

    India's Northeastern states, which have still not been fully integrated with the national mainstream but have been relatively peaceful for a few years, have suddenly witnessed renewed violence.

    In the worst attack on the Army in more than two decades, 18 soldiers were killed and 11 injured in an ambush in Manipur on June 4, 2015. Militants belonging to SS Khaplang's Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland, or NSCN (K) and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), a Meitei outfit formed in 1994, have claimed responsibility for the ambush. Apparently, they came from a camp in Myanmar.

    Three days later, Naga militants attacked an Assam Rifles camp in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh, but were repulsed. Furthermore, 11 Army and Assam Rifles soldiers were killed in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland on April 2 and May 3, respectively. On March 21, a Gorkha Rifles convoy was ambushed in Tamenglong district of Manipur.

    Just over a month ago, Paresh Baruah's United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent and NSCN (K) had joined hands with seven other militant organisations to form the United National Liberation Front of Western South-east Asia. The meeting, held in the Sagaing region of Myanmar, was reportedly facilitated by Chinese intelligence personnel.

  2. #182
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default A very short reading list

    There is also a large body of writing on Indian counterinsurgency, including Vivek Chadha’s Low Intensity Conflicts in India (2005), Rajesh Rajagopalan’s Fighting Like a Guerrilla (2008), the edited volumes Treading on Hallowed Ground (2008) and India and Counterinsurgency (2009), Sanjib Baruah’s Beyond Counterinsurgency, and Scott Gates and Kaushik Roy’s Unconventional Warfare in South Asia (both 2014). This is particularly important in light of the bloody ambush of 18 Indian soldiers in the northeast earlier this month, and the special forces raid into Myanmar that followed.
    Taken from a WoTR column by Shashank Joshi.
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    Earlier I noted an Indian report that a ceasefire had finally been agreed with the Nagaland insurgents, talks started in 1997 and the insurgency started sixty years ago. Indian tweets say:
    ..most significantly positive development for India's security in decades...
    From the BBC a very short report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-33762445 and a Reuters report:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...rs-of-war.html

    Then I lost it, so meantime this came via Twitter.

    Last edited by davidbfpo; 08-03-2015 at 09:31 PM.
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  4. #184
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    Default History of resistance in the hills

    By coincidence I caught up with my reading pile today, amongst the pile is a small journal 'Durbar' by the Indian Military History Society and an article 'Fighting The Nagas, 1832-1880'. In summary the hill tribes resisted Imperial encroachment into their land, fighting ended in 1880 and during WW2 the Naga tribe was stauchly loyal (Kohima is nearby). Their website:http://imhs.org.uk/

    One hill town, Khonoma, has a famous fort and it has a plaque showing its history and rebuilding last in 1990 (not clear why) and in 1956 when Indian rule was resisted (as below).



    The image is from one of the first tourist films of the area (at 1.47):http://sadanandsafar.blogspot.co.uk/...d-village.html
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    COIN - you're doing it wrong.

    The uneventful drive back from a religious shrine on Friday evening didn’t take much time to turn into a nightmare for Madan Gopal, one of the three abducted by the terrorists who stormed the Pathankot air base on Saturday morning.

    Mr. Gopal, the cook of former Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salvinder Singh, spoke to The Hindu at his residence on Sunday morning as fighting continued a few kilometres away between the security forces and terrorists, almost 35 hours after the terrorists stormed the forward base of the Indian Air Force.

    Mr. Gopal, Mr. Singh and the latter's jeweller friend, Rajesh Verma, were abducted on Thursday late night. And on Friday early morning, at around 2 a.m., Mr. Gopal and Mr. Singh were freed.

    Mr. Gopal alleged that not only was the vital information he shared with the police immediately after he was freed ignored but also he was brutally tortured by the Punjab Police.
    http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...?homepage=true


    See also

    Troops battled Monday to end a 24-hour gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city, after a bloody weekend assault on an air base in India near the Pakistan border.
    http://news.yahoo.com/indian-consula...172448742.html
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

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    A true Indian SME has a commentary, it opens with:
    It is true that Pathankot could have been handled better if we had learnt lessons from the July 27, 2015, Gurdaspur attack. We can only heave a sigh of relief by comparing Pathankot with similar incidents in our neighbourhood.
    Link:http://www.thequint.com/opinion/2016...ed-of-the-hour
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    A true Indian SME has a commentary, it opens with:
    Link:http://www.thequint.com/opinion/2016...ed-of-the-hour
    Very good article but the author missed a couple of points and is wrong about one.

    1) Hysteria created by the media. Lack of multi partisan or "free" media ends up playing inappropriate role in times of such incidents. Same goes for the lack of government's media policy i.e. complete blackout despite the blunder of 26/11.

    2) The hysteria propagated by the media with collaboration with "authoritative" figures like some ex Indian Army generals and other senior officers with some ludicrous theories.

    3) Punjab police SWAT did an excellent job in the last such incident in 2015.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Gurdaspur_attack
    So it was not the lack of a well trained SWAT but lack of jurisdiction in an air force station (centrally administered under MOD) that prevented the Punjab police from handling such situations.

    4) Five of the seven causalities (fatalities) occurred when terrorists entered the mess hall and were confronted by the unarmed Defence Security Corps members i.e. retired army personnel over 45 years of age.

    5) As for the MARCOS role in 26/11. A small team of MARCOS did enter the Taj but could not find the gunmen.


    As pointed out by the author, similar incidents in and around the neighbourhood has resulted in a much larger damage to either men or material or both. Be it the Camp Bastion raid or the attack on PNS Mehran or Kamra air base. So all in all it was not a bad operation but it ended up looking like one.

  8. #188
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    Default Cops & COIN: a reminder

    A reminder that this book has two chapters on Indian policing and COIN: 'Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents'. Edited by C. Christine Fair and Sumit Ganguly. Published by OUP (India) in 2013.

    Contents: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprofso/9780198094883.001.0001/acprof-9780198094883
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-14-2016 at 05:08 PM. Reason: Change from ten to two chapters.
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  9. #189
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    Default Book Review

    A lengthy review of the book 'Policing Insurgencies: Cops as Counterinsurgents'. Edited by C. Christine Fair and Sumit Ganguly; is attached; it concerns all the chapters, not just those on India.
    Attached Files Attached Files
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  10. #190
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    Default Fighting Insurgency With Politics: The Case of Bihar

    A long Carnegie report. From the introduction:
    Poor and weak countries plagued by violence seem to face a chicken-and-egg problem: a lack of resources appears to constrain their ability to fight violence, while violence itself exacerbates poverty. Yet under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, was able to significantly reduce an insurgency that has plagued the region for over forty years. Bihar shows how particular political conditions cause states to be poor, weak, and violent—and how careful application of political tactics can reduce violence even in places with few resources and low state capacity.
    Link:http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06...-of-bihar/j1n0
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-15-2016 at 09:51 PM. Reason: 50,426v
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  11. #191
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    Default Maoists are slow to change their strategy

    After the Bihar post above a "lurker" points to an October 2009 article by an Indian SME on the Naxalite / Maoist adversary, as they are slow to change their strategy it is helpful:http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2...cal-adversary/
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    Default Red Salute: India’s Maoist Maelstrom and Evolving Counterinsurgency Doctrines

    A Journal article: Red Salute: India’s Maoist Maelstrom and Evolving Counterinsurgency Doctrines

    The author is:
    Sajid Farid Shapoo is a highly decorated Indian Police Service officer with 18 years of progressively senior experience in sensitive and high profile assignments across India. His areas of expertise include ideologies driving various Jihadi organizations, ideological contours of Jihadi groups established at the national and international level and the early Islamic Period and the Shia Sunni divide.
    --------
    Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-08-2016 at 07:07 PM. Reason: Copied from SWJ Blog and updated. 53,128v

  13. #193
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    Default Armed Forces (Special Powers Act), 1958, or AFSPA

    The legal position of India's armed forces when engaged in internal security operations are governed by the AFSPA; not without controversy as this article explains:http://thewire.in/51089/way-applied-...es-need-afspa/

    Accountability before the civil courts is well illustrated by this passage, with an incredible period in military detention:
    Another big difference is the production of an arrested person before a magistrate, which is the origin of most complaints. According to the CrPC, an arrested person to be produced within 24 hours of arrest. However, the AFSPA permits a longer delay if the situation warrants so. Section 5 of the Act says the arrested person should be “made over to the officer-in charge of the nearest police station with the least possible delay”. Several cases have been quoted in which the army failed to produce the arrested persons for several days, sometimes even months, taking advantage of the “least possible delay” clause. In one instance, the person presented before the magistrate had been (in custody for) five years before. There is zero transparency in this procedure and it should be amended keeping in mind human rights angle.
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    This is the sort of situation that creates a petri dish for instability, possibly leading to one of those long-forecasted dystopian 'water wars'.

    Dr TV Ramachandra, coordinator of the Energy and Wetlands Research Group at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has been studying the lakes in Bangalore, especially Bellandur and Varthur, for over two decades. He explains that an estimated 400-600 million litres of untreated sewage is let into the lake catchment every day, creating a toxic environment fertile for disasters like the fires and foam.
    “The city overall generates between 1,400 and 1,600m litres per day of untreated sewage,” he says. “20-30m litres per day is generated from the apartments in the vicinity of Bellandur Lake. There are several invasive species like water hyacinths growing in the lake, thick enough to walk on. People dump solid waste on top of it. Because of the thickness, it creates an anaerobic environment in the water below, where methane is formed. It creates an ideal environment for catching fire.”

    He believes there are too many agencies governing the lake, so they all blame each other for such incidents. “The Bangalore water supply and sewerage board should be held responsible for letting the untreated sewage into the water,” he says, adding that the onus should also be placed on the Karnataka state pollution control board for not regulating industries that have been draining their untreated sewage into the lake.
    Although the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act require action to be taken over such matters, the government has mostly remained silent, while its departments have been passing the buck around. The National Green Tribunal has issued notices to all the agencies involved.
    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...habitable-2025
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  15. #195
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    Default Moderator at work

    Reminded today that there is a separate thread in the Doctrine & TTP arena which dates back to 2008-2009 The Gill Doctrine (Indian CT)
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-29-2017 at 05:21 PM. Reason: 74,530v
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  16. #196
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    Default Keeping India Safe : The Dilemma of Internal Security

    Thanks to a "lurker" for the pointer to this new book and the precis cited in part states:
    Security and intelligence specialist Vappala Balachandran analyses the shortcomings of India's security system in Keeping India Safe. He traces the origins of the problem, makes a case for reducing the burden on the police to make them more efficient, and offers solutions to fix the system.
    The author:
    Vappala Balachandran is a former IPS officer and a security and intelligence specialist. He retired as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, in 1995. He was also a member of the high-level committee which looked into the police performance in response to the terror attacks in Mumbai on 26 November 2008.
    Link:https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-India.../dp/9352644751
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-21-2017 at 06:34 PM. Reason: 82,587v 8k up
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  17. #197
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    Default Shoot to Kill

    A lengthy BBC News report, headlined 'Counting the dead in Manipur's shoot-to-kill war' and opens with:
    More than 1,500 people were allegedly killed in a wave of extra-judicial executions by security forces in India's insurgency-ridden north-eastern Manipur state between 1979 and 2012. Last year, in a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court asked relatives of the victims and activists to collect information on the killings. The court will rule in July whether to order an official investigation which could lead to convictions.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-40271353
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-03-2017 at 08:30 AM. Reason: 84,322v 1.8k up in a week
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  18. #198
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    Default Reviews for 'Keeping India Safe: The Dilemma of Internal Security'

    Via the author two reviews from India of his book (Post 196 refers).

    From a former paramilitary police officer:
    a valuable addition to the literature on the subject.
    Link: http://indianexpress.com/article/lif...-safe-4772030/

    One passage from the second:
    The importance of ....Keeping India Safe.... is that it drives home the point that infirmities in our national security apparatus have long been in the making and it would take a long time to fix this leaking ship, and that partisanship or ultra-nationalistic rhetoric would not do the trick. The fault-lines that we choose to incur today will come to haunt us years later.

    (Later) A useful book to have on the shelf.
    Link: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sun...ra/437249.html
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-30-2017 at 03:53 PM. Reason: 88,524v 4k up
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  19. #199
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    Default Indian COIN: neither conciliates or coerces effectively

    Two reports, first an Indian newspaper with official statistics after this headline and sub-title:
    More security personnel were killed in Maoist-hit areas than in Kashmir: Govt; The ministry said 2017 witnessed 504 incidents of Maoist violence, which is more than double the number of militant attacks in J-K where 194 such incidents were reported until July.
    Link:http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-...Mb0lz873K.html

    Then a commentary by a SME @ CSIS via Lawfare, whose Editor's introduction is:
    Insurgencies have plagued India throughout its modern history, and several remain active today. Until recently, it seemed that the Indian government was making progress, however fitfully, in reducing the scope and scale of the violence. Sarah Watson of CSIS argues that today Modi's government is dropping the ball. After significant gains, India's counterinsurgency campaigns are stalling, and the government appears unable to either conciliate or coerce effectively.
    Link:https://www.lawfareblog.com/indias-c...-warning-signs
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 08-13-2017 at 09:13 PM. Reason: 90,679v
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    Default Terrorism and Succesful CT strategies

    Within this large document is a "gem", an article by Lt General (Dr.) VK Ahluwalia, former Commander in Chief, Indian Army’s Central Command; it tackles insurgency and terrorism.
    Link:http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uplo...Index-2017.pdf
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 11-21-2017 at 12:21 PM. Reason: 102,606v 10k up since last post
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