Homeland Security

The Teenage Maoists : a challenge unprecedented
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Issue Vol 25.3 Jul-Sep2010 | Date : 06 Oct , 2010

The Maoists have enlarged their footprint across remote, mostly inaccessible parts of rural India over the last four decades taking advantage of the voids left by inadequacies of governance. The so called ‘Red Corridor’ now stretches across West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh and to parts of Maharashtra. It spans vast stretches of land where lack of administration and effective control by the state government provides the Maoists the necessary freedom to operate at will and expand their influence. The innocent inhabitants of the region understandably look for security from whoever is prepared and is capable of providing regardless of their affiliation. “In this kind of situation, there is never a middle path and people are forced to take sides”, says Menakshi Ganguly of Human Right Watch.

The Teenage Maoists

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect and a new dimension of the Maoist movement that one generally fails to take cognizance of is the induction of teenagers in numbers large enough to perpetuate the mass movement and compromise the future of the population in large segments of rural India. In the report published in the Times of India (TOI) of February 20, 2010, New Delhi edition that as Operation Green Hunt progresses, security forces may encounter a Maoist army of heavily armed teenagers both male and female, trained in guerrilla warfare. In an attack on a police camp, it was reported that the raiding party included at least 25 girls in their teens. Their ferocity and ruthlessness had left the villagers shell-shocked. The TOI report was followed by an admission by the state government that in the massacre carried out by 200 Maoists on February 17, 2010 in a village near Jamui in Bihar, there were at least 50 children involved in the Naxal ranks who unleashed the rampage.

“¦ the ex-servicemen community in ungoverned rural areas fall easy prey to Maoist lure or pressure. Their involvement and collaboration could be either voluntary for self preservation, under coercion “¦

In the vast rural areas under their control, Maoists have virtually destroyed the primary education system where school buildings that are often used to set up police camps, have been blown up. Teachers have been driven away from schools under threat of dire consequences. With no schools to go to, the children with age profile as low as six years are forcibly recruited into the rank and file of Maoist guerrillas and are compelled to join “Bal Sangham” where they receive initial indoctrination into Maoist ideology. On attaining the age of 12, the children graduate to handling weapons and explosives. Progressively they evolve into battle – hardened combatants. With the system of recruitment of children perpetuated, the Maoists movement appears all set to transform itself into a revolution.

Child Soldiers in Modern Warfare

Employment of children in warfare is not a new phenomenon in the history of conflict the world over. Young boys often took part in battles during early modern warfare. A film based on the Battle of Waterloo graphically depicts French drummer boys leading the initial attack by Napoleon’s army, only to be gunned down mercilessly by the enemy. Up to the Second World War, combat operations were undertaken primarily by regular troops. Children however did play a role in resistance movements in Europe and were sometimes arrested and even deported to concentration camps. In the civil war in Sri Lanka wherein the LTTE was known to have recruited thousands of teenagers who were deployed as frontline troops.

Experience in recent conflicts in different parts of the world indicates increasing trend of employment of heavily armed young boys and girls in guerilla warfare. Unlike seasoned adults, children engaged in guerilla warfare are relatively more vulnerable as they are not as well versed with the nuances of guerilla tactics and their self-preservation instincts are less acute. Despite international effort to eliminate the involvement of children in armed conflicts, this practice remains rampant the world over. We have ratified the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” on December 11, 1992. However, protection of the rights of children especially with regard to preventing their recruitment for armed conflicts is an area in which lot more still needs to be done.

Human Rights Watch website in July 2007 records, “In over twenty countries around the world, children have been direct participants in war. Denied their childhood and frequently subjected to horrific violence, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in current armed conflicts”. Experience gained from the UN peace keeping missions both at Rwanda and Burundi in the years 1994-95 and 2005 – 06 respectively, I am inclined to support the credibility of the report which estimates that hundreds of children were serving with ‘Forces National pour la Liberation” (FNL) an armed rebel Hutu group in Burundi. A similar situation prevailed in other zones of conflict in Africa such as in Chad, Ivory Coast, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Asia and the Middle East have also not been different with countries like Afghanistan where propaganda video showing boys marching in combat gear chanting slogans of martyrdom was released in 2009 in Pakistan by the Afghan Taliban leadership.

There is, therefore, an imperative need to take unconventional measures to prevent the Maoists from achieving their goal to overthrow the national government and seize power by 2050.

Iran too is known to have recruited young boys as volunteers to wage a holy war against Iraq. The child soldiers wore keys around their neck to signify their belief in the philosophy that the path to heaven lay in martyrdom. Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine too were no different. Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines is known to have recruited thousands of children to participate in their struggle to establish an Islamic state. Although a peace agreement is in place in Nepal, the Maoists have not yet demobilized children from their ranks

Role of Ex-Servicemen & Intellectuals

There are unconfirmed media reports suggestive of the involvement of ex-servicemen in the training of the armed cadres of the Maoists. Large segments of service personnel hail from areas affected by Maoist violence. Having retired from military service in their thirties or forties, skilled in business of arms and without opportunities of remunerative employment, the ex-servicemen community in ungoverned rural areas fall easy prey to Maoist lure or pressure. Their involvement and collaboration could be either voluntary for self preservation, under coercion or possibly due to sympathy when influenced by Maoist ideology. Such reports in the media would undoubtedly be a cause for cheer for the Maoists and who would be even more encouraged in their endeavour.

Maoists also receive considerable moral support from leftist intellectual groups or individuals publicly espousing their cause, justifying their struggle, raising issues related to human rights violation on their behest and opposing the policies of the government. Sometimes such campaigns are driven by entirely private agenda such as promotion of literary endeavour, to gain entry into public life or even to double as Over-Ground Workers (OGWs). Such trends are potentially dangerous as they could fuel the fire. These elements ought to be moderated by the government and the society within the norms of democracy.

The Response

While the causes of insurgency are well known, what should also be understood is that this in essence is not a problem that should be left only to the security forces to solve. Direct involvement of the security forces without attendant support of governance and developmental activities tantamount to being a case wherein the cure is worse than the disease. Years of neglect, lack of development, absence of educational facilities and employment opportunity, lack of governance, corruption, depletion of forest and forest produce and alienation – all these afflicting just under 10 per cent of India’s population inhabiting the affected areas, have provided fertile ground for breeding insurgency. These need to be addressed urgently by the state governments with simultaneous action on several fronts with a multi- pronged strategy. It would be necessary to achieve a high level of synergy between the government at the centre and in the states to weaken the foundations that support insurgency and isolate the tribals from the Maoists. Eradicating the root cause of insurgency is the most appropriate and possibly the only viable response to the problem.

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Brig Abhay Krishna

Brig Abhay Krishna, an Infantry Officer, presently attending the 50th NDC Course

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