Be Mains Ready

Approach

• Introduce by mentioning the root causes of insurgency in India in general.
• Explain the Kashmir problem contrasting it with the Maoist insurgency and insurgency in the North East.
• Conclude by suggesting the approach to handle the insurgency across the country.

Introduction

India had experienced several insurgency movements sweeping across the country, reflecting an acute sense of alienation on the part of the people involved. Broadly, these can be divided into movements for political rights (e.g. Assam, Kashmir and Khalistan [Punjab]), movements for social and economic justice (e.g. Maoist [Naxalite] and north-eastern states), and religious grounds (e.g. Ladakh). These causes overlap at times.

Body

The Kashmir problem is different from the Maoist insurgency or the insurgency is Assam in the following terms:

Aspirations of the people:

• The Kashmir insurgency has roots in different perceptions of the people regarding the special provisions accorded to the state of Jammu and Kashmir via Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. It was aggravated by the protest movements since 1989 created to voice Kashmir’s disputes and grievances with Indian government particularly Indian military.
• Whereas, the Maoist insurgency originates from apparent discontent over agrarian reforms and exploitation of the local tribal population. Its stated objective is the overthrow of the Indian State and parliamentary democracy.
• In Assam, the tribal insurgent groups like BODO, ULFA have taken up arms to fight for their tribal identity which they feel is not getting due recognition and support within the State of Assam. It has its origins in the fear that continuous migration of persons from erstwhile East Pakistan and now Bangladesh will alter the demographic character of the State of Assam to the detriment of its indigenous people.

Involvement of other state and non-state actors:

• The insurgency in J&K has been actively assisted by Pakistan’s ‘proxy war’ against India which continues to exploit any discontent in the people of J&K. It directly supports the separatists and is involved in cross border terrorism and money laundering.
• Maoists have been reported to have got training from the LTTE and are actively seeking cooperation from insurgent groups in the North East, especially the PLA.
• Similarly, both the ULFA and BODO groups of Assam have been reported to receive training and arms from Pakistan.

Ideological differences:

• The Kashmiri separatist demands are based on religious grounds based on Muslim identity giving it political overtones.
• Whereas Maoists draws inspiration from Mao Tse Tung’s Communist movement to organize armed rebellion against the government. The Maoists have primarily exploited the governance deficit in the region leading to extreme poverty, unemployment, inequitable growth and poor criminal justice system.

Geographical extent and government’s approach:

• The Kashmir issue poses a challenge to the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity primarily due to its strategic location along the international border with Pakistan and China.
• Naxalism is primarily an internal security issue. It can be argued that the Left-wing extremism affected region is not so economic and strategically critical. It is rather perceived as a ‘social problem’ aggravated due to development deficit of the region.

Conclusion

There is a need for a multipronged approach. Any approach to counter insurgency and militancy should not only be concerned with law and order problem rather should be based on the genuine concerns related to people’s aspirations, and other factors like historical, geographical, development deficit, etc.

There is a need to win the confidence of the people through psychological operations to delegitimize the movements while using hard power against the militants on a parallel front.