Indian Defence Review

The Constitution of India is very clear-anyone who picks up the arms against the Indian Union is to be treated as an enemy. Therefore, purely in military terms, we must shed this notion of “our misguided innocent boys”. They were neither innocent nor misguided when they raided a police station in Naugachhia in Bihar or ambushed a CRPF patrol in Chhatisgarh or even when they beheaded a Jharkhand police officer. These were calculated acts towards the achievement of their aim. One of their stated objectives is to spread terror in the areas they control by deliberate acts of violence.

According to Mr. Ashok Sahu, the Maoists do not believe in democracy. They do not accept our constitutional system and intend to establish ‘Peoples’ Republic’ through the use of terror. Mr. Ashok Sahu further states that the organization believes in the ideology of ‘annihilation of class enemy’. The organization advocates a ‘protracted people’s war’ to seize power. In a press statement on October 14, 2004, the leaders of the newly formed CPI (Maoists), made it clear as to how this war was to be conducted. Mr. Ashok Sahu observes that the protracted people’s war of Maoists aims at armed seizure of power, as its central and principal task, encircling the cities from the countryside and thereby finally capturing them. Hence, the countryside as well as the Protracted People’s War will remain as the “center of gravity” of the party’s work, while urban thrust will be complementary to it.

The person who kills his own countrymen most brutally and flaunts his weapons openly can not be “innocent and misguided”. No half-hearted measures can yield results.

The Maoists consider state power as a weapon in the hands of the rich and the ruling classes. So their primary aim is to destroy the state power in all its forms and create their sum power structure. As the state power is based on the might of its armed forces their sole aim is to paralyze the police and the paramilitary forces. The second target is the people’s representatives on the state assemblies and the parliament. They attack and kill democratically elected leaders and also the common people to create terror and panic in order to marginalise the state administration.

Further, their naked dictatorship does not have any concern for the public opinion or peoples well-being. Coteries of ideological fanatics are dictating the people and have reduced them to slaves. The Maoist rule of has compounded their miseries of the tribal as they have to leave their home and hearth off and on.

Therefore, violence and terror is the primary ideology of the Maoists. They have launched a war on India. To call them ‘misguided’ is to wish away the evil and prolong India’s ordeal and endanger its integrity.

The Maoists have established links with foreign militant groups. On October 02, 2009, one of the Maoist commanders, Srinivasan, made an admission to LEMON TV Channel that Chinese and Nepalese trainers have been coming to India to impart training to their cadres. Similarly, in the last week of October 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal revealed that Maoists of Nepal were the conduit for providing arms to Indian Maoists.

On November 02, 2009, a news item appeared in The Tribune, which claimed that Nepalese Maoists have truck with the Indian Maoists. This was despatched by Bishnu Budhathoki from Kathmandu, who gave reference to a news item in a Nepalese news paper ‘Rajdhani Daily’ which had disclosed that the meeting of the two parties had taken place in central India on October 08, 2009.

President Rajpakshe of Sri Lanka rightly kept all these human rights organizations at bay and succeeded in demolishing the supposedly invincible LTTE “¦

In the same edition of The Tribune, another news item from a Tribune Correspondent, Mr. Suresh Dharur revealed that LTTE remnants have been providing training to Maoists of India in the forests of central India. The news item had attributed reference to this disclosure by Director General of Police of Andhra Pradesh, Mr RR Girish Kumar.

The Maoists of India have laid a well charted course to demolish the Indian Union. A soft approach will spell disaster for the unity and integrity of India. Eminent political commentator Mr. Harsh V Pant, in his article, “The War Within”, published in ‘The Tribune on November 02, 2009, advises the political leadership that it is time for India to assert itself as well as expose the intellectual vacuity of the Maoist ideology. He concludes that the Maoist insurgency was a blatantly illegal and a no-hold-barred war against the country, against the idea and existence of Indian democracy, and that includes the poor tribal and farmers in whose cause the Maoists claim to fight. He cautions that it is not only ignorant but also extremely dangerous to romanticize the Naxalites cause. This must be understood by some of our politicians who take the help of these organizations for their short term political gains.

Violence and Maoism are as inseparable. This must be realized by those who think that peace can be heralded through talks and negotiations alone. We need a two pronged policy of carrot and stick to deal with this menace.

At the outset we must be clear that it is not going to be a matter of months and days. It is going to be a long drawn battle on the socio-economic and military platforms. Two-pronged pincer would be required to not only contain and neutralize the Maoists but also to assuage the sense of neglect and indifference.

In modern military parlance this kind of warfare has been named as Sub-conventional Warfare or even Fourth Generation Warfare. I would prefer to call it as ‘War by Other Means’ (WOM). This appropriately describes the conditions we are facing. Indian Maoists have suddenly become very active after the success of Maoists of Nepal. There is no denying the fact that they have chosen to confront the nation with active assistance from China. Even the home secretary, Mr. GK Pillai, confirmed this in a media conference on November 08, 2009, after his visit to Nepal. So, we are in a state of war, thrust upon us by our northern adversary. Dr Man Mohan Singh has rightly pointed out that no sustained development activity can take place as long as there was fear of the gun. It must be silenced or neutralized to usher the age of growth and development. One can not say, “What First”? Both must start concurrently. Operations by security forces have to be extensive and all-encompassing to allow foothold for growth and development.

All operations must be “™small scale, target- based and unorthodox. These three tenets are the key to successful conduct of operations. Large scale operations are predictable and cause a lot of hardships “¦

The best medicine for ‘terrorism’ is ‘terrorism’.  Put the fear of God in the terrorists. Siege the initiative and let them be hunted and be on the run.  Terrorism does not provide a level playing field for the security forces. A lot of restrictions are laid by the authorities in conduct of operations. It not only prolongs the ordeal but also allows militants and terrorists to regroup and reorganize. A number of actors, such as media, human rights organizations and local politicians have vested interest in slowing down operations. Even international pressure is built to prevent total elimination of the insurgent organisations.

It is the duty of the authority who orders security forces to conduct anti-militant/anti-terrorist operations to prevent such unwanted interference. It must be realised that, as a diversionary tactics, the militants would use such ruses to exaggerate the alleged cases of violations of human rights, molestation and rape.

The successful conduct of anti-militancy/ insurgency operations, whether in Indian Punjab in the 90s or recently in Sri Lanka, bears testimony. Even Malayan insurgency in the 50’s was put down by British forces with a heavy hand. Moralistic posturing is unwarranted once security forces are given the mandate to destroy the enemy. At times people call these kinds of operations as illegal. It might be so but there is no alternative, as the other side does not accept the country’s laws. They openly challenge the Constitution. There are front line organizations who cry aloud in the name of human rights. President Rajpakshe of Sri Lanka rightly kept all these human rights organizations at bay and succeeded in demolishing the supposedly invincible LTTE and its supremo Prabhakaran.