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By ET Bureau | 11 Jun, 2015, 12.16PM IST
Myanmar operations: Get global outreach, train units like US Navy Seals - The Economic Times
By Sreeram Chaulia
On June 9, in the jungles of Myanmar's Sagaing region, India sent a subcontinental-size message through a military operation by its Special Forces. Parachute-borne Army commandos surreptitiously landed and ambushed terrorists from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang faction) and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup of Manipur, who were sheltering deep inside Myanmar.
The level of sophistication of this foreign mission conveys that India's capacity to deter enemies is growing. Terrorists who shelter outside India's boundaries brim with confidence that we cannot pursue them outside our sovereign space. But information and broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Rathore asserted that rebels will be compelled to rethink as India "will choose the time and the place of hitting them".
The Sagaing operation was preemptive and covert in nature. But it has been widely publicised ex post facto to score psychological points with anti-India elements that exploit governmental failure in our peripheral regions. Military raids cannot, of course, solve the misgovernment and accompanying socioeconomic grievances of local people. But they do convey that India is not a soft state that will passively absorb body blows like the recent killings of our soldiers in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Governmental weakness is a core problem in India's northeast, where many tribes are alienated from the mainstream. But this lacuna is being compounded by opportunistic terrorist leaders like SS Khaplang who, old and ailing, is seeking to revive Chinese support for a unified umbrella guerrilla force to challenge India's territorial integrity. To such elements, the government is laying down the law that they cannot endlessly exploit civilians and spoil peace negotiations.And that China will not be allowed to rekindle its old patronage system for secessionist movements.
Rathore's combative comments about attacks on Indians anywhere - be it Iraq, Yemen or in our neighbourhood - being "unacceptable" raise questions about whether we actually have the capability to exercise the option of commando action against terrorists, say, in Azad Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) or against the Islamic State (ISIS), which kidnapped dozens of Indian citizens last year in Mosu ..
Israelis and Americans can tell that there are a number of preconditions for pulling off sensational 'hot pursuit' assignments. First, intelligence must be precise as to the location, inmates and conditions of the targeted terrorist camps. In Myanmar, the Indian Army regularly intercepted radio communications of terrorists and also had conducted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recces prior to the operation. As local tribes often cross the porous international border between our northeastern states and Myanmar, human inputs about the movements and intentions of the terrorists were also obtained and cross-checked against technical intelligence.
Second, the host government's attitude plays a central role. It helped India's cause that the Myanmarese military is not fully in control in Sagaing and, in some cases, colludes with northeast insurgents. Special Forces can be effective when there is a security vacuum and regular militaries are out of sight. Since there has been no outcry from Myanmar after the Indian operation, it is obvious that New Delhi did its diplomatic homework and secured permission from Naypyidaw to operate within specified geographical and temporal limits.
Can we get deep intelligence about cross-border terrorists and also gain tacit political coordination from the host government when it comes to dismantling jihadist camps in Azad Kashmir? The former is achievable but the latter is a nonstarter. As far as Iraq goes, we have linguistic handicaps and also far less ethnographic knowledge of what is happening on the ground in ISIS-controlled zones.
If the Modi government intends to prioritise preemption in its national security policy, we have to train far more advanced special units akin to as the American Navy SEALS that are deployable in multiple continents. It sounds like a fantasy that India cannot afford right now. But the covert strikes in Myanmar ought to spur us to go global in planning our security outreach.
(The writer is Dean, Jindal School of International Affairs)
Myanmar operations: Get global outreach, train units like US Navy Seals - The Economic Times
By Sreeram Chaulia
On June 9, in the jungles of Myanmar's Sagaing region, India sent a subcontinental-size message through a military operation by its Special Forces. Parachute-borne Army commandos surreptitiously landed and ambushed terrorists from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang faction) and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup of Manipur, who were sheltering deep inside Myanmar.
The level of sophistication of this foreign mission conveys that India's capacity to deter enemies is growing. Terrorists who shelter outside India's boundaries brim with confidence that we cannot pursue them outside our sovereign space. But information and broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Rathore asserted that rebels will be compelled to rethink as India "will choose the time and the place of hitting them".
The Sagaing operation was preemptive and covert in nature. But it has been widely publicised ex post facto to score psychological points with anti-India elements that exploit governmental failure in our peripheral regions. Military raids cannot, of course, solve the misgovernment and accompanying socioeconomic grievances of local people. But they do convey that India is not a soft state that will passively absorb body blows like the recent killings of our soldiers in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Governmental weakness is a core problem in India's northeast, where many tribes are alienated from the mainstream. But this lacuna is being compounded by opportunistic terrorist leaders like SS Khaplang who, old and ailing, is seeking to revive Chinese support for a unified umbrella guerrilla force to challenge India's territorial integrity. To such elements, the government is laying down the law that they cannot endlessly exploit civilians and spoil peace negotiations.And that China will not be allowed to rekindle its old patronage system for secessionist movements.
Rathore's combative comments about attacks on Indians anywhere - be it Iraq, Yemen or in our neighbourhood - being "unacceptable" raise questions about whether we actually have the capability to exercise the option of commando action against terrorists, say, in Azad Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) or against the Islamic State (ISIS), which kidnapped dozens of Indian citizens last year in Mosu ..
Israelis and Americans can tell that there are a number of preconditions for pulling off sensational 'hot pursuit' assignments. First, intelligence must be precise as to the location, inmates and conditions of the targeted terrorist camps. In Myanmar, the Indian Army regularly intercepted radio communications of terrorists and also had conducted unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recces prior to the operation. As local tribes often cross the porous international border between our northeastern states and Myanmar, human inputs about the movements and intentions of the terrorists were also obtained and cross-checked against technical intelligence.
Second, the host government's attitude plays a central role. It helped India's cause that the Myanmarese military is not fully in control in Sagaing and, in some cases, colludes with northeast insurgents. Special Forces can be effective when there is a security vacuum and regular militaries are out of sight. Since there has been no outcry from Myanmar after the Indian operation, it is obvious that New Delhi did its diplomatic homework and secured permission from Naypyidaw to operate within specified geographical and temporal limits.
Can we get deep intelligence about cross-border terrorists and also gain tacit political coordination from the host government when it comes to dismantling jihadist camps in Azad Kashmir? The former is achievable but the latter is a nonstarter. As far as Iraq goes, we have linguistic handicaps and also far less ethnographic knowledge of what is happening on the ground in ISIS-controlled zones.
If the Modi government intends to prioritise preemption in its national security policy, we have to train far more advanced special units akin to as the American Navy SEALS that are deployable in multiple continents. It sounds like a fantasy that India cannot afford right now. But the covert strikes in Myanmar ought to spur us to go global in planning our security outreach.
(The writer is Dean, Jindal School of International Affairs)
