Old Frontier, New Command

Arunachal Pradesh — one of India's most talked about frontiers, along China'sTibet region — is likely to have a unified command, involving the Army, Policeand Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs). This new security arrangement is notmeant to guard the rugged Himalayan heights along the border with China, but isbeing created to ensure effective maintenance of law and order within this stateof over a million people, through better synergy among the various securityforces (SFs).

General (Retd.) J.J. Singh, Arunachal Pradesh's new Governor, who was, untilrecently, the Chief of the Indian Army, has confirmed to this writer that aproposal to set up a Unified Command structure in the sate was currently beingexamined by Chief Minister Dorji Khandu and his cabinet. The General, who ismore than familiar with Arunachal Pradesh and its strategic importance, statedthat the Unified Command, if approved by the state cabinet, would be headed bythe Chief Minister, while the General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army'sTezpur-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 inAssam. The idea is to deny the insurgents breathing space in anotherstate," General Singh added.

The Unified Headquarters was set up in Assam on January 24, 1997, six yearsafter the government first launched military operations against the outlawedUnited Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a separatist group fighting for a'sovereign, socialist Assam' since 1979. For the past decade, since the UnifiedHeadquarters came into being in Assam, insurgents from Assam and Nagaland havebeen escaping into adjoining Arunachal Pradesh and further into neighbouringMyanmar. In fact, the ULFA's most potent strike unit, called the '28thbattalion' or the 'Kashmir Camp' is based in Myanmar, across Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh has been facing the impact of the spill-over of insurgencyfrom Assam and Nagaland for more than a decade now. Moreover, a dozen home-growninsurgent groups, which had sprung up in Arunachal Pradesh with backing from theNaga rebel groups — both by the Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of theNational Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM and NSCN-K) — though they havefailed to flourish. The question, consequently, arises — what precisely haschanged on the ground in Arunachal Pradesh to provoke the move to set up theUnified Command structure in the state? Could this be nothing more than anattempt by the state's new Governor to make his presence felt?

An assessment of the quantum and character of the spill-over insurgency in thestate can be had by a review of the few incidents that have occurred in therecent past:

September 18, 2007: Police in Arunachal Pradesh's capital Itanagararrests Ranu Das alias Gita Gogoi, wife of a Myanmar-based ULFA cadre, alongwith her 14-month-old child, from Naharlagun, near Itanagar (this showed thatrebels were operating from the state).

December 23, 2007: Naga militants shot dead Wangsha Rajkumar, formerCongress Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, at Deomali in the Tirapdistrict of Arunachal Pradesh, 600 kilometres east of Itanagar.

January 27, 2008: A Naga militant was arrested from the house of a formerMinister of Arunachal Pradesh, Tingpong Wangham, in Itanagar.

March 31, 2008: A group of ULFA militants made a quick getaway during anArmy raid, but left behind a bag containing USD 100,000 in Arunachal Pradesh'sManabhum Reserve Forest.

Going by the scale of insurgency in some of the other north eastern Indianstates, particularly Manipur and Assam, violent activities by rebels operatingfrom or transiting to Myanmar through Arunachal Pradesh is insignificant. Butwhat is significant and cannot be ignored is Arunachal Pradesh's strategiclocation – this is a state that opens into Myanmar, Bhutan and China.Particularly after Beijing has chosen to be vocal about its claim on Tawang (animportant 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 ofseparatist 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 theULFA and Naga rebels, block their access to bases in Myanmar (up to 5,000 NSCN-Kand ULFA rebels are known to operate jointly and share camps in Myanmar), andblock the defunct local armed gangs from possible resurrection.

The idea of the Unified Command may be new to Arunachal Pradesh, but the statehas 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 Billto help tackle organized crime and insurgency. With the state Governor's assenton 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, theArunachal Pradesh Police arrested Tingpong Wangham, a cabinet minister, and T.L.Rajkumar, a Congress Legislator, under APCOCA, on charges of having 'links' withthe NSCN-IM. They were later released on bail and denied any links with therebels.

Whether or not the two politicians had links with the insurgents is not the keyissue, but, what Wangham had told this writer has significance within thepresent context of the move to set up a Unified Command. Wangham stated: "Icome from an insurgency affected area. We often get written notices from therebels as well as threatening telephone calls. At times, we need to reply tocertain notices sent by them (rebels). On certain occasions, we being publicleaders, need to meet certain people to find out whether those who have sent aparticular notice are genuine rebels of that particular group or not. We keepthe authorities informed of such things most of the time. Now, it is unfair andincorrect to term these actions on our part as evidence of links withinsurgents. After all, the ground situation needs to be understood and takeninto account."

The move to bring the security forces in Arunachal Pradesh under a UnifiedCommand could bring about better synergy among the different security agenciesand deny the rebels operating through the state the scope to act as a cohesivegroup. Rebels from outside the state are having a field day and groups like theNSCN-K were even held responsible by the authorities of having abducted morethan 40 local youth in January 2008 and forcibly taken them to Myanmar to joinits ranks. The Army operating in adjoining Assam has all along being handicappedby the fact that its troops were not entitled to cross over, beyond 20kilometres, into Arunachal Pradesh in hot pursuit. Moreover, the Police topbrass in Arunachal Pradesh were getting used to directing whatever operations itwas carrying out in the disturbed Tirap and Changlang districts from theiroffices in Itanagar. All this is bound to change once the Unified Command comesinto force and is operationalised. Past experience, however, suggests thatresults will come only if this new structure actually operates as a unifiedcommand of different forces and not a competitive command, with each forcetrying to outsmart the other to take credit.