CRPF obvious choice in Kashmir, but say no to political adventurism: Strategic expert

New Delhi, Mar 07: The Pulwama attack, in which 41 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred, has left indelible impact on the people of the country. Consequently, the major attack raises questions on the capability and vulnerability of the the paramilitary force.

OneIndia spoke to Dr. Ajai Sahni, Executive Director, Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), regarding the necessity of CRPF deployment in Kashmir, counter-terror capability of the force and ways to reduce casualties of the CRPF personnel.

OneIndia: Is CRPF more vulnerable compared to Army in conflict areas in general and especially in Kashmir?

Ajai Sahni: The CRPF is deployed in a number of static and crisis management duties, as well as CT operations, often in small units, with a high measure of exposure. Compared to the Army, moreover, they are relatively poorly equipped and resourced, and consequently, their vulnerabilities are high. Nevertheless, by and large, the number of fatalities in the Force tends to be significantly lower, as compared to the Army and the J&K Police. In 2018, for instance, of a total of 95 SF personnel killed, seven were drawn from CRPF and 37 from the Army (the remaining 45 were from the Police, with six not-specified). Of course, the Pulwama vehicle borne IED suicide bombing has dramatically distorted this trend in 2019, with 41 of the total of 55 killed this year (data till March 3) drawn from the CRPF; six from the Army, three from the Police, and another five not specified.

OneIndia: Is it necessary to deploy CRPF in Kashmir?

Ajai Sahni: The CRPF is the largest Paramilitary Force in the country, and has also been designated as the lead agency for response to insurgency and terrorism. Further, if you don't deploy the CRPF, you would have to deploy some other Central Forces in the present circumstances. While the J&K Police are now doing an excellent job, and have enormously improved their effectiveness, both in terms of intelligence gathering and operations, they are still far from sufficient in number and capacities to handle the challenges of both the insurgency and of the law and order crises created by sympathetic separatist campaigns, such as the relentless stone pelting to which Security Forces are subjected. Some Central deployment is necessary, and as the designated first responder against insurgency, the CRPF is the obvious choice.

OneIndia: Is the government expecting more from CRPF than they could deliver in terms of counter-strikes in Kashmir?

Ajai Sahni: There is a definite gap between what the Government expects and what the CRPF is equipped, trained and resourced to do. The Government has failed to reconcile its expectations with its allocations, and this has put the CRPF under extraordinary pressure.

OneIndia: How is the co-ordination between CRPF and the Army?

Ajai Sahni: Coordination between all Forces in J&K is now fairly good. There may be occasional exceptions, but these are usually the result of friction between individual local commanders, and can be expected in any theater of conflict.

OneIndia: How is CRPF rapport with local Kashmiris?

Ajai Sahni: This is a more difficult problem. CRPF gets its personnel from across the country, and patterns of deployment require fairly regular circulation of personnel. The troops are moved from theatre to theatre well before they are able to familiarise themselves even with the operational environment - leave alone the local people and cultures. There are, however, some outreach programmes that are intended to create a measure of goodwill between the Force and the local population, and these do help in some measure in building some bridges. Clear directives from the CRPF leadership also help moderate the behaviour of troops on the ground. However, where the message from the top is to deal harshly with segments of the population, abuses multiply and the distance between the Force and the people grows rapidly.

OneIndia: Do you think capability of CRPF should improve?

Ajai Sahni: Of course, there are many lacunae in patterns of training and deployment that need attention, equipment, particularly a range of modern technologies, and weaponry, need urgent upgrades; protection of personnel require continuous reviews both of protective gear and established protocols.

OneIndia: What do you suggest to reduce CRPF personnel casualties in Kashmir?

Ajai Sahni: The most significant initiative needed is to reverse the polarising, hate-based politics that has dominated the State over the past five years and more - from the run up to the 2014 elections. It is useful to remind ourselves that total terrorism linked fatalities in J&K had fallen to 117 in 2012, according to to SATP data, but had surged to 451 in 2018. Political adventurism, intentional destabilisation by the current regime at the Centre, the marginalisation of constitutional political parties, and the coarse and heavy handed approach that has been adopted towards the population, and the excessive focus on divisive issues such as Articles 370 and 35A, is feeding terrorist recruitment and violence, as well as separatist agitations, in the State.

This environment creates limitless opportunities for Pakistani mischief as well. There is overwhelming evidence today that most Kashmiris are turning away from the terrorists. A flood of intelligence provided by locals is making a continuous chain of successful, narrowly targeted counter-terrorist operations possible.

Moreover, most terrorist and stone pelting violence is now restricting to a few small areas of the Valley. Just five tehsils, out of 82 in the State, accounted for nearly 49 per cent of all terrorism related fatalities, while the worst affected five tehsils accounted for over 64 per cent of all stone pelting incidents in 2018. These trends demonstrate the vast opportunities for normalisation in J&K, but these have been sacrificed to the polarising electoral strategy of the ruling party at the Centre. Unless these policies are abandoned and a measure of sanity is reintroduced into New Delhi's policies, Kashmir will continue to burn.