What's the price of a Jawan's life?
Not much...It comes cheap...one of the very few things left untouched by inflation....a few lakhs of rupees and a mere mention as one of the numerous jawans killed or injured on the news channels, often confined to the ticker alone (in case the casualties have not occurred in bulk then their sacrifice is played down in favor of other ''breaking'' news). Perhaps a word of condolence to the family and rarely somebody owning up to the blunders that have led to their deaths. Tackling the Maoist Menace is a risky business and the government as well as the police top brass have made cannon fodder out of SPOs, Paramilitary personnels and Policemen. These brave men are considered expendable hence sent into the killing grounds ill-equipped, with negligible intel, guided by shoddy tactics and no backup/cover what so ever. This anti-Maoist operation has been *ucked up so bad that Mr.Kishanji and Co. rival Rambo, killing state forces with clinical precision. Supposedly mine- proof vehicles are being blown up by IEDs, yet the authorities insist on sending in troops with a token mine-proof vehicle to give the Jawan a sense of false security. Let me point out some glaring callousness of the think-tanks heading '' operation green hunt''. I understand that I'm not the appropriate person to have a say in this matter but the lapses are very basic in nature and as a military history enthusiast, the point I am trying to make do hold water plus this blog happens to be mine so I can say what I want to without mincing words...
* Government policy : In the insurgency hit J&k, when militants kill soldiers and civilians,Government sends in the army to deal with them...mind you in Kashmir militants operate in small groups of 3 or 5. The Government doesn't have a negotiation policy with the militants. Whereas in places like Dantewada, hundreds of Maoists en masse butcher the security personnels but still home ministry is reluctant to send in the cavalry. Why, even the issue of air-support during combing operation is marred by protocols and a misplaced sense of political righteousness. What differentiates a militant from a Maoist? Why does government even want to have talks with Maoist? Is it simply because home-bred terrorist deserve a second chance? Since when did killing mercilessly became an excuse to reach out to masses airing concerns of poverty and under-development? Are we going to find criminals like Kishanji in parliament in the future if the Maoist strike a deal with the government in the days to come? After decades of violence,leaders of IRA were given political pardon and leverage to enter the political mainstream of the Great Britain. Is something similar going to happen for the Maoists? Someone rightly pointed out that Rajapaksha quashed LTTE in Sri Lanka in spite of heavy odds then what's keeping the state from taking down the Mao Menace?? When does the government decide its time to go all guns blazing?? Is it after some more Dantewada s that the Home Ministry will get over the bullshit theory of offering the olive branch along with killer punch? No wonder Maoist are now dictating terms to Mr.Chidambaram...We need men of Sardar Patel's caliber who can take the bull by the horns. The policy needs a revision and subsequent modification .
* Tactics : Maoists are using the time tested Apache guerrilla strategy.
The idea is to organize massive strikes on small patrol parties with such brutality that it catches the public attention and furthers confusion mixed fear in the minds of the security forces. Look at their modus operandi...On receiving solid intel from the villagers regarding the path the convoys will take during routine missions, they have sleepers in the village relaying information to the pockets of Maoist resistance spread across the 5 states. The advance party does a recce and ascertains the intel. They pass on the info to the commanders who order the bomb experts to lay down explosives. Understanding that standard anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines will be useless against the Mine proof trucks, they use IEDs or Improvised Explosive Device which are usually artillery shells with wired detonating mechanism...obviously an artillery shell packs more punch than a land mine and comes cheaper as well (often these are unexploded shells recovered by scrap dealers who handle military wastes). Thus, IEDs defeat the mine proof armor of the vehicles. The Maoist well organized use bird calls to relay directions as they encircle and ambush the convoy all at once outflanking the Jawans who have no cover. Imagine a platoon of jawans surrounded by some 500 naxals in the jungle, trying to get cover while reeling from a massive IED explosion. Its an overkill situation. In guerrilla warfare, that too in jungle, its the no. that counts more than weaponry or shooting skills. The offensive against the naxals are so ill-coordinated that they can afford the time to regroup, rearm and replenish their ranks. Plus the unimaginative top brass ensures that the forces are always two steps behind the naxals.
The Maoists are now evolving their tactics...they are cutting off communication in and around their stronghold...blowing up railway tracks, telephone lines, power lines and even going after the power installations like the thermal Power plants in order to isolate these places and secure their fortifications. What next?? We can expect them going the way of the LTTE and the Chechen rebels i.e. to go after soft targets...schools, hospitals plus organize suicide squads...The only thing stopping them from doing so is the ideology factor that seems to guide them some what. But, if cornered and under the leadership of radical elements, the ideology will soon wane making way for an all out offensive against state. What will the government do then? Keep pondering over whether it was a ''law and order'' issue or a war against a sovereign state?? Only the time will tell...
*Strategy : This is how the para-military and state police machinery functions...you attack a small stretch of naxal occupied area with full force, force the Maoist to retreat and then set up outposts to act as a base of further action. The plan sounds good and effective but...Without secure supplies, high security perimeters, regular troop rotation and quick further action to grab the initiative of the outpost establishment renders this plan toothless. Add to it the fact that the terrain is jungle where its possible to about move about undetected by the outpost and the sentries. The naxal mingle with the locals to cloak their movements and strike at an unwary security unit. While the forces could hardly spring traps, the naxals pull off one massacre after another. How do the naxals to escape the heat? Simple! They keep crisscrossing into the adjoining states thus making the mockery of the jurisdiction of different states where the police is left in a lurch trying to figure out whose jurisdiction is it to go after the get-aways. And please, sharing information of deploying fancy elements like ''greyhounds'', GPS TRACKERS, Mine resistant vehicles, automatic weapons may add to the vanity of the high ranking officers and catch the imagination of the public but it hardly has any impact on the operational effectiveness of the combat forces. The troops haven't even got personal communication radios and to talk of high tech gadgetry is such blasphemy.
*Night combat tactics: The combing operations are halted at dusk. The night combat option has not been used yet for reasons best known to government. The naxals do not have the capability to negotiate attacks by night. Using Night Vision devices, sniper units can take out the top Maoist commanders thus leave the rag tag groups without leadership + motivation and that might force them to give up arms. Why not embed electronic chips in the rifles of the forces? The naxals are known to salvage arms and ammo after attacks, so they can then be traced revealing their hide outs. Instead of trying to outgun the Maoist, simply outwit them.
*Local intelligence : This is indispensable. You cannot venture out into naxal heartlands without solid intel. Instead of depending on half baked report provided by IB and CID its best to arrange for double agents and plant your own informers among the sympathizers. You have to pay to gather info. Publicly announcing awards on the heads of the targets ain't gonna work because through well connected source in the administration, the Maoist will come to know about the informer and then make them pay dearly. The IB should directly payoff naxal comrades to divulge information. This shouldn't be much of a problem considering there are always some Indians who have the tendency to defect from their side as evident in the Madhuri Gupta case.
* Air Support : PC doesn't want to use air power (i.e. Armed forces on Indian nationals). Fair enough! But at least issue a directive regarding proper use of air support. Don't bring in those choppers only to ferry the dead and the wounded. Have those choppers conduct patrol over sensitive areas and let them escort the convoys and the patrol parties which pass through dangerous zones. Timely patrol will check Maoists from planting bombs at will.
* Seal the porous borders: Arms are being supplied to the naxal by arms rackets operating near the international borders of India and Nepal, from north east and substantial amount being manufactured locally. The supplies to naxals must dry up to exert pressure on them. The effort should be more on boxing in the perps than spearheading into their territories. The noose should be tightened gradually waiting for them to make mistakes.
* Tag and gag those mother*ucking pro-naxal sympathizers : Kindly book those bastards who make their living selling the plight of the naxals to the public. An ideology which doesn't mind bloodshed shouldn't be allowed to spread into schools and colleges poisoning young minds. We have already witnessed student outrage and violence during the Naxal era...hundreds of lives lost, thousands of careers destroyed. Yet, these morons think that by rooting for the Maoist they can become the favored child of revolution...even if their designs are not that great still they are milking this issue to get footage. The disturbing thing is that the buddhi-jeevis are the ones justifying Maoist mayhem whether in open or in proxy. They should be made to hear what the widows, parents and children of the fallen jawans have to say. Maybe the rationals they give on TV can pacify the mourners.
The Maoist/naxals may not be wrong in opposing the suppressive policies of government on the downtrodden outcasts of society but that doesn't give you the right to dismantle the governance all together and take over sovereign parts of this nation by killing innocents as well as the custodians of law and order in this country. The Maoist movement may have been a good cause gone bad but its high time to see an end to it. Enough said!
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