Understanding Indian Insurgencies

[SWJ Blog]

Counter-Insurgency Best Practices: Applicability to Northeast India

Copied here for reference.

[blueblood]

JeM's last visible commander killed

The “divisional commander” of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Yasir alias Yasir Tunda was killed in Rafiabad area of Baramulla district in the early hours of Saturday in a joint operation by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police and the army.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Shiv Murari Sahai, told The Hindu that the operation was launched after Sopore Police received a tip off late on Friday, suggesting the presence of the JeM commander at the hideout. SOG Sopore and Rashtriya Rifles 22 Bn swooped on the militant at the house of Ali Mohammad Bhat at Chatlora village.

[blueblood]

Counter-Insurgency Best Practices: Applicability to Northeast India

Copied here for reference.

Lengthy but nice article.

[davidbfpo]

This thread has posts on the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh and an ambush this week has led to renewed local press commentary. So what was different with this ambush?

Answer - politics:

Suspected Maoist rebels set off a landmine and opened fire on a convoy of cars carrying local leaders and supporters of India's ruling Congress party in eastern India, killing at least 23 people and wounding 32 others, local police said.

Politics plus revenge are not a good mix:

Police identified one of those killed as Mahendra Karma, a Congress leader in Chhattisgarh state who founded a local militia, the Salwa Judum, to combat the Maoist rebels. The anti-rebel militia had to be reined in after it was accused of atrocities against tribals – indigenous people at the bottom of India's rigid social ladder.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...illing-23.html

Having Israeli-supplied drones, flown by the Air Force, has a few local problems - poor quarters for the pilots - and there remains:

.. despite having hardware, the coordination and sharing of intelligence data remains a deeply problematic issue for the Indian forces.

Link:http://www.firstpost.com/india/exclu...rh-816465.html

[Ray]

This thread has posts on the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh and an ambush this week has led to renewed local press commentary. So what was different with this ambush?

Answer - politics:

Politics plus revenge are not a good mix:

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...illing-23.html

Having Israeli-supplied drones, flown by the Air Force, has a few local problems - poor quarters for the pilots - and there remains:

Link:http://www.firstpost.com/india/exclu...rh-816465.html

This typifies motivated reporting.

Salwa Judum means “Peace March” or “Purification Hunt’ in Gondi language, which is a tribal language. This was raised with local tribal youth to counter the Maoist violence and was assisted by the Chattisgarh Govt. The person who was killed and who founded this organisation was himself a tribal! That he was a very popular person was exhibited by the unprecedented and massive turnout of tribal people at his funeral!

The Maoists have repeatedly prevented the Govt from doing any constructive work in the areas the Maoist control and have prevented electricity, road, water supply constructions reaching the tribal areas. They attack all efforts to put up TV transmission towers (terrestrial TV) in order to keep the tribal belt ignorant of the happenings around the country and progress planned.

The Supreme Court of India passed a judgement, on a plea from the Human Rights organisations, that the militia is unconstitutional, and ordered its disbanding.

It has to be said that Human Rights organisations in India are more of ‘wannabes’ attempting to clone themselves on western concepts without a shred of knowledge of the issues since they operate from air conditioned offices in Delhi with occasional forays in the danger zones on Maoist sponsored conducted tours. Likewise, the Judges have no experience of insurgency or counter insurgency and hence their judgement on these issues is more academic than practical.

Also interesting is that the so called Human Rights NGOs and the Judges conveniently forget the havoc, murder, loot and killing the Maoists are indulging in these areas and make no mention of the same. There are even those who glibly laud the Maoist and their activities! Even on National TV!

It maybe added that one Binayak Sen, who was promoting Maoist sympathies and literature and assisting Maoist overtly was jailed. However, under the barrage of international bigwigs and intellectuals and Pollyannas, he was released. What is most surprising is that the Govt of India, which is also battling Naxals and Maoists, appointed this very same man as a Member of the Planning Commission (the supreme body that decides and suggest national policies to the Govt of India)!

The whole problem is that there is a total lack of political will to fight the Maoists and Naxal and instead meander like a rudderless leaky boat with the cox having gone off to sleep at the rudder.

On the issue of Drones, there are very few available to carry out 24 x 7 surveillance over all areas of strategic importance to India, to include the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal as also sensitive areas in the massive land mass of India. Yet, the knowalls are ready to excoriate all concerned and nitpick, conveniently missing the woods for the trees and misinforming the readers!

[Red Rat]

Interesting analysis of Security Force problems in Chhattisgarh.

Praveen Swami is probably one to track on twitter feed for those interested in the situation there.

Chhattisgarh Attack: Why India is losing its war against the Naxals

[SWJ Blog]

Left-wing Extremism: Rethinking India’s COIN Strategy

Entry Excerpt:



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This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[davidbfpo]

I missed the radio story and caught this article on the insurgency in North East India:

For about 50 years, the Indian police and army have been battling separatist insurgents in the north-eastern state of Manipur, a conflict which human rights groups claim leaves at least 500 women widowed each year.

Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...nt/9421267.stm

The main report is on:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/do...lent_war.shtml

[SWJ Blog]

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.

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Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ.

[davidbfpo]

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.

[AdamG]

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

[davidbfpo]

Reminded today that there is a separate thread in the Doctrine & TTP arena which dates back to 2008-2009 The Gill Doctrine (Indian CT)

[davidbfpo]

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