Armed forces personnel hailing from the Red Corridor are being subjected to intimidation and extortion by the Maoists for at least two decades now. The families of the servicemen residing in their native places are being forced to part with their hard earned money to fill the coffers of the Maoists. These servicemen, serving in some of the most difficult and remote areas on the borders, find it difficult to concentrate on their jobs of defending the nation because of the insecurity of their families back home. When they proceed to their homes after retirement, they are again made to surrender a part of the gratuity and commuted pension. While the servicemen protect the countrymen from external aggression, which includes the Maoists as well, their own security within the country has been of little importance to the State.
The overall security of the country is an interplay or harmony between internal and external security. External security cannot be guaranteed if internal security flounders. Such is the case with Maoism, which afflicts about 160 districts of India, i.e. 40 percent of the country’s territory. This is not a sudden development. In 1989, the former Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal Dennis La Fontaine, who had chosen to settle in rural Andhra Pradesh, was robbed of his pistol by the Maoists. In fact, he was tied up with the chair and he remarked whether they were revolutionaries or dacoits? Twelve years down the line, i.e. in November 2001, he was again robbed of another pistol. Comparing the two incidents La Fontaine said: “The confidence of the teenagers this time was much higher because they were better armed.” In 1989, he maintained: “That seemed a ragtag bunch while this one came in jungle fatigues, boots and caps.” The State, however, did not show any resolve to tackle the menace of Maoism in the intervening years.
Now, the victim is a Group Captain of the Air Force, R K Prasad. He was made to pay Rs. 10 Lakhs for the release of his brother who was kidnapped by the Maoists in Jharkhand in this very year. The officer wrote to the Home Minister and was subsequently given a very patient and concerned hearing by the Home Minister and the Home Secretary.
Reproduced below is his letter to the Home Minister.— Editor
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Honourable Minister Sir,
At the outset, I must express my deepest sense of gratitude to you for taking bold and firm steps towards eradicating the Naxal menace plaguing various states. It also gives me a sense of security and reassurance to be able to address my problems to you through the opportunity granted through your ministry’s website.
External security cannot be guaranteed if internal security flounders. Such is the case with Maoism, which afflicts about 160 districts of India, i.e. 40 percent of the countrys territory.
I am a pilot with the Indian Air Force with 28 years of meritorious service, with most part as a fighter pilot and subsequently as a helicopter pilot. I am presently employed as a Joint Director in the Directorate of Operations Room at Air Headquarters, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi.
It may not be out of context to mention here that my father, Honorary Capt BN Prasad, is a proud ex-serviceman who retired in 1975 after 30 years of military service as an infantry man. My younger brother, Sri SK Prasad, with whom my parents live as both are more than 80 years old, served for 12 years in the Indian Army before he took premature retirement in 1990 due to the poor health of my parents. My son, Flying Officer Ashwin Prasad, is also a fighter pilot with the IAF, commissioned in June 2008. And I wish to mention here that my daughter, Ms Neha Prasad is no less motivated and is all set to join the IAF and go for training at the Air Force Academy in January 2010.
Sir, such pride and honour in military service and the uniform, to commit three generations to take the pledge to make even the Supreme Sacrifice, when called upon for the sake of the nation, could not have been possible without faith and absolute trust that honourable and great leaders like you are at the helm of affairs, and are examples to ordinary citizens like us, in leading the nation ahead in its march to glory.
However, not all is as well as it sounds.
Therefore, I take this opportunity to highlight the monster that the Naxal menace has become in the state, and I say this with all conviction, having myself become the latest victim of militancy in Jharkhand.
I was travelling with my wife and daughter, on annual leave on 17 June 2009 by car to McCluskie Gunj in Ranchi District of Jharkhand to visit my parents, and my kin. Having put my wife and daughter in my house, which is looked after by a caretaker in my absence, I went to my brother’s house, which is about 800 metres away, to pay my respects to my parents who reside with him. Because of power failure there was no electricity in the area and even the telephone exchange was not working.
Soon I realised that they had already taken my brother hostage. Having asked me my relation and purpose of visit, they coerced me to move to the backyard where I discovered my parents, a mentally retarded elder brother and my brother’s wife in absolute shock. While trying hard to keep my sanity in this moment of crisis, I was desperately trying to calm down my family, who broke down on seeing me and narrated the ordeal as to how the militants had appeared suddenly out of nowhere and searched the whole house for arms and any other weapons. They also continued to threaten them of dire consequences with the accusation that the family, having a military background, was aiding the police from time to time in all the anti-naxal operations in the area.
They had used my brothers mobile to make the call and demanded two SLR weapons or Rs 10 Lakh in cash.
Having heard the narration of my parents, I went back to look for my brother in the front arena but found no trace of him. After consoling my parents and advising them to stay calm, I rushed back to my house where I had left my wife and daughter alone, with the apprehension that they might be targeting them as well. Having secured them, I came back to my parents. We then looked everywhere in the vicinity, but could not get any trace of my brother.
Since there was no connectivity by telephone, I could only inform the police the next morning (18 June). Some of my brother’s friends and others from the village, who were known to the family started to look in the jungles around, but it was all in vain. The worst fears had started to haunt the minds of all kins and friends.
I desperately tried to ease pressures and at the same time was continuously in touch with the police, giving them every possible bit of information in trying to track the miscreants. We had lost all hope and were still deliberating on the options open to us, when the first call for ransom came at about 4 pm.
They had used my brother’s mobile to make the call and demanded two SLR weapons or Rs 10 Lakh in cash. My father pleaded with them endlessly to spare my brother, noting that we were ordinary people making our ends meet through pension and salary, and that it was beyond us to pay such an enormous ransom.
I must confess that it was heart rending for me to witness the helplessness of the man who had never compromised his dignity or honour and who had fought all wars for the country from 1948 to 1971 before very honourably hanging up his uniform in 1975. It is also difficult for me to describe my own anguish and frustration in the light of the fact that I was the Director on Duty on the night of 26/11 and morning of 27/11 and singularly coordinated the Air Operations part of the action, under the guidance and directions of my DG Air Operations, against the militants who had struck Mumbai. And here I was so helpless and defenceless at the hands of some trigger-happy miscreants who had taken my brother hostage for a ransom.While the police, as usual, were clueless, the negotiations yielded no results till noon when it became very clear to us that it was a no-go situation for us and we would have to give in or else lose our boy. Since I am the only officer in the family, with some reasonable access to the administrative machinery and of course, financial institutions, my father solely depended on me for help. It was an ordeal and a moment of profound humiliation for me to be almost going around the streets of Ranchi with a begging bowl.The hard question which kept coming to my mind was: was this the country, was this the society, and were these the people – a section of which could bear so heavily upon us so as to literally bring us on the roads – that three generations of ours had pledged even our lives for?
Four hours was the lead time that I had to arrange for the ransom since the miscreants had threatened to eliminate my brother by 4 pm (19 June ‘09). It would only be more humiliating for me to narrate how I arranged the ransom money. Nevertheless, I continued to brief the local police and the SSP Ranchi of all the fresh developments in real time. But looking at their body language and the blatant strategies that they were implementing, I didn’t expect much to happen from the police side.
When the final contact was made with the militants at 4:30 pm, my father succumbed to their demands and asked them where we could pay the ransom for the safe release of my brother. The militants asked us to reach a place called Chandwa, which is about 90 km away from my village, and then call them again. They warned my father to come on motorcycle with, at the most, a rider to take him, and threatened dire consequences if we informed the police or played any other trick.
I immediately relayed this to the police officer in charge and the SSP and asked what our strategy should be. To my absolute dismay, they had no plan of action and were still trying to explain to me the historical aspects of militancy in the state and how different break-away factions were operating in various districts, purely for the sake of ransoms.
We then decided to set out for Chandwa with the ransom and I sent my father ahead on a motorcycle with an empty bag stuffed with paper and clothes as decoy, while I followed him in a car with four credible and able bodied persons from the village to assist us in case of any untoward development which may occur en-route. Having driven a few kilometres out of the village, I transferred my father into the car since it was not possible for him to go all the way on a bike. Five kilometers short of Chandwa, I put my father back on the motorbike and on reaching Chandwa we made contact with the militants.
I immediately relayed this to the police officer in charge and the SSP and asked what our strategy should be. To my absolute dismay, they had no plan of action…
Notwithstanding the risks involved in acting against the diktat of the militants, who had my brother in their captivity, I continued to keep the police abreast of the developments and my latest position. The militants now asked us to contact them at a place called Tori which is adjacent to Chandwa. On reaching Tori we were instructed to proceed 15 km on a northward road to a place called Nagar.This road is through dense forests, but I had no choice since a life was at stake. About two kilometers short of Nagar, I transferred the ransom money to the motorbike and continued to follow them. I had also suggested to the police to keep adequate armed security personnel in plain clothes to launch an operation immediately after the release of the hostage had been affected.
While all kinds of promises had been made and assurances given, it was only later we realised that nothing had actually moved on ground. With a deep sense of disappointment I must comment here that it was a rude awakening for me to realise that the Jharkhand police in totality were more scared of these miscreants than the ordinary citizen on the streets or in the village.
As a matter of fact, there are no strategies and absolutely no plan of action with them to deal with any crisis situation. And for such callousness, when caught up and ambushed in a situation, we go ahead and make heroes out of them and even pay monumental compensations when they are shot up like sitting ducks.
Anyway, my father was instructed on the mobile phone by the militants who had identified us approaching, on to a track leading deeper into the jungles. I was forced to wait on the road because the track was not motorable. I continued to communicate with the police in the meanwhile and enquired if there were any security forces to backus up, to which they replied in the affirmative.
It was 10:45 pm when my father came out of the jungle with my brother. I quickly transferred them into the car and advised the motorcyclist to speed up ahead to the nearest police post (Tori). I followed behind and simultaneously informed the police that we had secured my brother and they could go ahead and launch an operation if they had planned any. I did expect some action from the police, but nothing actually happened.
On reaching the police post, when I enquired from the SP in charge of that area, he only complemented me on the safe release of my brother and reflected that it was too dark for them to launch any operation now and that they would see what they can do in the morning, as though the militants were going to wait there till the police paid them the promised visit. So much for the safe release of my brother who had been kept in captivity for 50 hours and made to trudge 90 km barefoot as he was only in hawai chappals when they took him hostage.
So what if the Jharkhand Police physically didn’t move an inch out of fear themselves, I still went ahead and conveyed my gratitude to the SSP Ranchi, SP city Ranchi, SP Latehar and OIC Khelari and Tori Police stations for at least hearing me out patiently every time I called them.
So what if the Jharkhand Police physically didnt move an inch out of fear themselves…
I did communicate with Retired DGP Sri TP Sinha, IPS, Adviser (Home Affairs) to HE the Governor of Jharkhand, and suggested some immediate measures to contain the ever growing menace of militancy for ransom in the state.
With what I had learnt about their modus-operandi from my brother and news features in the past, and of course the preparedness and the will of the administrative machinery in Jharkhand, it is just a matter of months, or at the most, a couple of years before these gun totting trigger happy goons armed with local made muzzle loading rifles, would be moving freely on the streets of Jharkhand with rocket propellers, grenade launchers and the latest automatic weapons, much like the Taliban in NWFP in Pakistan.
Kudos to the Jharkhand Police!
Sir, the menace can not be contained or eliminated without the use of Air Power. The Government of Jharkhand has adequate flying assets, both rotary and fixed wing, at its disposal. They must use it effectively, not just to convey dignitaries to offer their condolences to bereaved families who are victims of militancy, but to combat such anti-social forces to prevent situations of such bereavement.
Sir, with all humility I request you to grant me an opportunity to effectively contribute in tackling the militancy problem in Jharkhand. I have also flown helicopters in the IAF for 10 years and anqualified in special operations. I sincerely feel that I would be able to evolve strategies and tactics for aerial operations to effectively neutralise such rogue elements in a respectable time frame.
And last but not the least, my commitment is not just because of the personal loss suffered by me, I also feel for the hundreds of combatants and innocent civilians who have either lost their lives or have been victims of militancy. And I reiterate that the use of the aerial options is inevitable if we want to tackle this monster. It would not only provide greater mobility and more flexibility to the combat forces, it would effectively reduce logistics cost, and above all, attrition by as much as 75 to 80 per cent.
With warm regards and hope for a favourable response.
Yours faithfully,
Group Captain RK Prasad,
Indian Air Force
Please wait...
THERE MUST BE SOME UNWRITTEN CODE OF WAR THAT FAMILIES MUST BE EXCLUDED IN THE BATTLE FIELD. IS WAR-CRIME GOING ON?