Arunachal Pradesh — one of India's most talked about frontiers, along China's
Tibet region — is likely to have a unified command, involving the Army, Police
and Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs). This new security arrangement is not
meant to guard the rugged Himalayan heights along the border with China, but is
being created to ensure effective maintenance of law and order within this state
of over a million people, through better synergy among the various security
forces (SFs).
General (Retd.) J.J. Singh, Arunachal Pradesh's new Governor, who was, until
recently, the Chief of the Indian Army, has confirmed to this writer that a
proposal to set up a Unified Command structure in the sate was currently being
examined by Chief Minister Dorji Khandu and his cabinet. The General, who is
more than familiar with Arunachal Pradesh and its strategic importance, stated
that the Unified Command, if approved by the state cabinet, would be headed by
the Chief Minister, while the General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army's
Tezpur-based IV Corps, in northern Assam, would be in charge of its operations.
"We plan to have a unified command on the same lines as the one existing in
Assam. The idea is to deny the insurgents breathing space in another
state," General Singh added.
The Unified Headquarters was set up in Assam on January 24, 1997, six years
after the government first launched military operations against the outlawed
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a separatist group fighting for a
'sovereign, socialist Assam' since 1979. For the past decade, since the Unified
Headquarters came into being in Assam, insurgents from Assam and Nagaland have
been escaping into adjoining Arunachal Pradesh and further into neighbouring
Myanmar. In fact, the ULFA's most potent strike unit, called the '28th
battalion' or the 'Kashmir Camp' is based in Myanmar, across Arunachal Pradesh.
Arunachal Pradesh has been facing the impact of the spill-over of insurgency
from Assam and Nagaland for more than a decade now. Moreover, a dozen home-grown
insurgent groups, which had sprung up in Arunachal Pradesh with backing from the
Naga rebel groups — both by the Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM and NSCN-K) — though they have
failed to flourish. The question, consequently, arises — what precisely has
changed on the ground in Arunachal Pradesh to provoke the move to set up the
Unified Command structure in the state? Could this be nothing more than an
attempt by the state's new Governor to make his presence felt?
An assessment of the quantum and character of the spill-over insurgency in the
state can be had by a review of the few incidents that have occurred in the
recent past:
September 18, 2007: Police in Arunachal Pradesh's capital Itanagar
arrests Ranu Das alias Gita Gogoi, wife of a Myanmar-based ULFA cadre, along
with her 14-month-old child, from Naharlagun, near Itanagar (this showed that
rebels were operating from the state).
December 23, 2007: Naga militants shot dead Wangsha Rajkumar, former
Congress Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, at Deomali in the Tirap
district of Arunachal Pradesh, 600 kilometres east of Itanagar.
January 27, 2008: A Naga militant was arrested from the house of a former
Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Tingpong Wangham, in Itanagar.
March 31, 2008: A group of ULFA militants made a quick getaway during an
Army raid, but left behind a bag containing USD 100,000 in Arunachal Pradesh's
Manabhum Reserve Forest.
Going by the scale of insurgency in some of the other north eastern Indian
states, particularly Manipur and Assam, violent activities by rebels operating
from or transiting to Myanmar through Arunachal Pradesh is insignificant. But
what is significant and cannot be ignored is Arunachal Pradesh's strategic
location – this is a state that opens into Myanmar, Bhutan and China.
Particularly after Beijing has chosen to be vocal about its claim on Tawang (an
important seat of Buddhism) or for that matter the whole of Arunachal Pradesh,
New Delhi would not like this frontier state to slide into the grip of
separatist rebel armies with their potential to create unrest.
Prodded perhaps by the new Governor, this strategic criticality would explain,
in substantial measure, the decision to set up a Unified Command to choke the
ULFA and Naga rebels, block their access to bases in Myanmar (up to 5,000 NSCN-K
and ULFA rebels are known to operate jointly and share camps in Myanmar), and
block the defunct local armed gangs from possible resurrection.
The idea of the Unified Command may be new to Arunachal Pradesh, but the state
has sought to check crime and insurgency through different measures in the past.
In August 2002, the state assembly pushed through a rather harsh anti-crime Bill
to help tackle organized crime and insurgency. With the state Governor's assent
on October 3, 2002, the Arunachal Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act, 2002 (APCOCA),
became law. Less than a year after this legislation came into effect, the
Arunachal Pradesh Police arrested Tingpong Wangham, a cabinet minister, and T.L.
Rajkumar, a Congress Legislator, under APCOCA, on charges of having 'links' with
the NSCN-IM. They were later released on bail and denied any links with the
rebels.
Whether or not the two politicians had links with the insurgents is not the key
issue, but, what Wangham had told this writer has significance within the
present context of the move to set up a Unified Command. Wangham stated: "I
come from an insurgency affected area. We often get written notices from the
rebels as well as threatening telephone calls. At times, we need to reply to
certain notices sent by them (rebels). On certain occasions, we being public
leaders, need to meet certain people to find out whether those who have sent a
particular notice are genuine rebels of that particular group or not. We keep
the authorities informed of such things most of the time. Now, it is unfair and
incorrect to term these actions on our part as evidence of links with
insurgents. After all, the ground situation needs to be understood and taken
into account."
The move to bring the security forces in Arunachal Pradesh under a Unified
Command could bring about better synergy among the different security agencies
and deny the rebels operating through the state the scope to act as a cohesive
group. Rebels from outside the state are having a field day and groups like the
NSCN-K were even held responsible by the authorities of having abducted more
than 40 local youth in January 2008 and forcibly taken them to Myanmar to join
its ranks. The Army operating in adjoining Assam has all along being handicapped
by the fact that its troops were not entitled to cross over, beyond 20
kilometres, into Arunachal Pradesh in hot pursuit. Moreover, the Police top
brass in Arunachal Pradesh were getting used to directing whatever operations it
was carrying out in the disturbed Tirap and Changlang districts from their
offices in Itanagar. All this is bound to change once the Unified Command comes
into force and is operationalised. Past experience, however, suggests that
results will come only if this new structure actually operates as a unified
command of different forces and not a competitive command, with each force
trying to outsmart the other to take credit.
Wasbir Hussain is Member, National Security Advisory Board, India; Associate
Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi. Coutesy, the South Asia
Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal