Last month a strange thing happened, as i was all geared up to write a blog on the C.R.P.F’s handling of the current turmoil in the valley, i found that there were 5 comments by an unidentified blogger commenting on the same topic. In the last few days I have been troubled by the pathetic handling of the situation by 3 different parties, the central government, the governor and the CRPF. Today I would like to keep my focus on C.R.P.F’s handling of the valley situation and leave the other 2 characters for a later date.
Firstly, I would like the readers to go through my previous blog on police reforms and see this as a continuation of the same. Firstly it is my firm belief that the Local Police and the CRPF is the worst that the Indian state has to offer to the citizens. What creates my view is seeing their conduct from both historical and contemporary perspective in the valley as in the rest of India. This time my views are also supported by the fact that people on both sides of the Pir Panjal are unhappy with the handling of the situation by both the Local Police and the CRPF.
First let us the talk of the Police actions in Jammu, when Kuldeep Kumar Dogra died due to the intake of a poisonous substance at a rally in Jammu, the police in connivance with the hospital staff managed to smuggle out his body from the morgue and were trying to cremate it by putting it on fire using discarded car and truck tyres. They would have succeeded in the same had it not been for a passing sadhu who raised an alarm and alerted the local population of that area. This desecration of the mortal remains of a person killed during the agitation was the second big booster to the ongoing agitation; the first being Omar Abdullah’s parliament speech. Maybe the police as also Omar might have thought that the act would pass off as a regular police action or for Omar a freedom of speech. What both forgot is the fact that most of the Indians generally will forgive millions of acts that are perceived as not correct but something’s are generally non negotiable. These two were part of that which is termed as non negotiable especially when the scenario is as tense as it is now. We should not ignore the basic premise that people anywhere in India have a right to demonstrate. Why the extra judicial killing or the rallies there after Kashmir do not shake the national conscious is due to the fact that such rallies turn into a Pro Pakistani Pro Azaadi rallies. What amazes people in other parts of India is the condition that Pakistan is itself in. The kind of extra judicial killings that are being committed by each and every concerned (or unconcerned) party including government, ISI, Pakistan Army, US Army, CIA and many more is simply ignored. This added to the fact that Pakistani generals take money from CIA after each “terrorist” captured or killed or even after each “Predator” strike. This is quietly ignored by the people lecturing the common people in the Valley. Just because Justice Ifthkar Chaudhury the CJ of Pakistan Supreme Court wanted some sort of accountability from the government on these killing that emergency was imposed in Pakistan. This is the level to which our Jhootistan neighbour can go to hide their extra judicial killing machinery. So the less the valley and in particular Geelani talk about their undying love for the land of the pure the better it would be.
Now let us look at the CRPF, well this force is probably the most untrained, unmotivated, ill equipped and over utilised forces that the union of India has. There is no system of governance or leadership that exists in that force. The officers that command the frontline soldiers are mainly from the ranks whose training and leadership skills are suspect and the only reason of their promotion from the ranks is the length of service and their Annual Confidential Report. This is absurd as the basic criteria for a leader of soldiers is to have leadership qualities either in born in him or been trained to have them. This ACR driven promotion business works well in bureaucracy but not in forces either military or Para military. The best part is that hardly anyone understands the basic problems of the force and the main thrust for any so called correction in the force usually ends up creating more posts for I.P.S officers at the CRPF Hqrs in Delhi.
Looking specifically at the valley and the CRPF reaction, well the same things happened when B.S.F took charge of the valley. They used all kinds of trials and error methods to strengthen their grip in the valley. They had very few positives in their method of operations and even those were lacked by the CRPF. The biggest problem comes from the fact that Para military units do not have a fully vetted counter insurgency manual. This coupled with the unfamiliarity of working in new operational setup like CI Grid or using collateral Damage Avoidance procedures and Lack of adequate weaponry or training has created the situation which will take its toll not only on the people of the valley but also on the CRPF men and women who work there. Today the BSF may laugh and say that they had told the home ministry that CRPF is not equipped to handle the CI grid in the valley as the premier force along with the JK police but the fact of the matter is that BSF had itself been a totally disjointed and ill equipped force when it landed in the valley. They picked up after a long and painful period in which they used draconian methods like their PAPA ONE interrogation centre, capture, death and the brutal skinning of some BSF men in the villages of Kashmir, number of terrorist attacks at key installations in spite of having their own intelligence wing – the G branch cannot be forgotten. Also R.A.F was created out of the CRPF to handle such situations and again it has not been used in the valley. This act is unpardonable as it makes the Home Ministry suspect in the eyes of all the people who know the effectiveness of the R.A.F. I guess you cannot expect much from this home minister who is in a way there because MADAM likes meo cats and not roaring tigers in the Home Ministry. I guess as any other law abiding citizen of the country it is a matter of shame that we have to use illogical force on people who have a right to demonstrate. I might have a difference in opinion from the people who demonstrate but it cannot take away their rights. All peaceful agitations must and need to be promoted in all over India, however when they threaten life and limb – please use all modern methods minus firing to stop them. Crowd control is something that a lot of research is going on in Europe and lessons can be learnt from them. Use of dye coloured water, video recording of the event, issuance of criminal record on the person and the threat of dismissal from service can be used as more humane and civilised ways to control a crowd. The faster we move from the British methods of General Dyer, the better it will be for our nation.
Being a devil’s advocate, firstly it is not easy being CRPF trooper in India and more so currently in the Valley. They have no system of training either on induction or during their tenure. Their units are moved not as battalions but as companies. This goes against the basic tenets of any general duty force which 90% of the CRPF belongs to. Although comparisons are tough but a general duty force on a CI grid like the Indian Army infantry units on the other hand move only in battalion strength, making it easier to manage command and logistical issues. This added to the fact that army can use its own engineering or supply regiments to arrange for accommodation or other logistical matters which the CRPF lacks. Most of the times the CRPF moves to their designated location even before the CPWD which is tasked to help them in issues of accommodation start putting out tender notices. CPWD’s speed even at the best of the times is to wake up only after a couple of weeks of deployment have passed. The only Army units that work on company strength are specialised units like Engineers, medics, Bomb disposal and dog squads and those too within their command. In the CRPF it can happen that the commanding officer is in Kashmir and his 2 companies would have been airlifted for a deployment in Kerala. This deployment of the 2 companies of the CRPF is for infinite time leaving a complete sense of disarray in the battalion. The state government which request for these men and women do not want to relieve these units leaving even further disarray as far as the operational, leave and training requirements of that particular battalion are concerned. The charter of these men and women is just not defined making them tools in the hands of state governments. Then same company or even the battalion could be one day used for polling booths, next day for anti electricity theft operations, next day land clearing operations, next day for rally, then next day for VIP bandobast, the next day in anti naxal operations and finally to flush out heavily armed terrorist from some house in the valley. Please have a look at the quality of food of the CRPF men and women, their tents, their weapons, their duty hours, their nature of duties, their motivations and one will can easily understand why this force is totally out of the sync with the methods to be adopted in the valley. Which force can do all that? Is it humanly possible to do all this and then remain sane and think logically? How many of the CRPF DG’s have worked at the level of SP and below for more than 10 years in the force? Please read my previous blog on police reforms to understand the crux of this problem and maybe it’s possible solutions.
I have myself seen one of their ROP (road opening party) methods in Jammu division and all myself and a friend of mine (whose is in the army) could do is to hold our heads in disgust. The entire CRPF company had no arrangement for transportation or accommodation of the men and each of their boys were carrying their own gun, holdall, bucket, sticks and trunks. All this was on a road that was a very strategic road which terrorist were using as their main crossing point between P.O.K and Doda (for their onward movement to the valley from south Kashmir). This lacklustre approach was when there was a specific threat that the terrorist were thinking of ambushing forces on that road and Army (which was earlier doing the ROP) was relieved to make way for some clearing operations in the higher reaches of those hills to thwart such an attack. The next day Army had to spare some of its men to augment the CRPF ROP as the brigadier of that sector had no trust on the ROP abilities of the CRPF (as the road was also used by Army conveys). This example is only to illustrate the frustration of all the concerned parties in such a scenario.
There is no short cut to arranging leadership of troops. It is a very painful process that even the Indian Army is discovering given the drop in quality of people applying for the officer’s rank. I do not say the Indian Army is perfect and all other forces are fools but the fact of the matter is that the Army is able to adapt faster to such changes. The army is backed by schools for its troops like CI ops schools, High altitude schools, etc which the other forces do not have. They can rotate their troops from peace to active duty which CRPF cannot do; they have a system of no carry forward leave (all troops under the home ministry have that) which enables them to retain a minimum level of force for deployment. Small measures like splitting the very generalised of this force can help create a better CRPF.
All this is no sympathy for the near and dear ones of people who suffer due to such an action. This debate to re invent the CRPF and also the Indian police forces must be pushed to its logical end otherwise if today it is Kashmir, tomorrow it can be any other Indian City.
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