Daily Excelsior....News Page

Centre, State Governments flayed
Experts favour clubbing of hamlets to check killings
*Call for Nagaland type experiment in J&K

Excelsior Team

JAMMU, May 11: Anti-insurgency experts, who had handled insurgency in different states, have favoured clubbing of small hamlets’ population into one large village in isolated areas of militancy-infested upper reaches of Doda and Udhampur districts to stop the massacre of ‘soft targets’ by Pakistan-backed militants.

The experts told EXCELSIOR that clubbing of villages had proved a successful experiment in Nagaland in late 60s when insurgency was at its peak in the North East State.

"Population in hilly villages of Udhampur and Doda especially in Mahore, Gool, Gulabgarh, Atholi-Paddar, Marmat and such like villages was scattered. A hamlet had a dozen odd houses and then more houses fell in another hamlet, located at a distance of about one or two kilometers", they said, adding ‘it was not possible for any army in the world to protect each and every hamlet in remote areas’.

Foreign mercenaries, who are paid by Pakistan, resort to the killings of soft targets without facing any resistance as they did yesterday in Atholi area of Kishtwar by killing eight civilians after taking them as hostage, they asserted.

According to sources, the only way to prevent frequent massacres of soft targets was to combine the population of small hamlets and constitute one village. The consolidated population can be given protection by a security picket and Village Defence Committees (VDCs).

Presently, majority of hamlets in upper reaches of Udhampur and Doda besides Poonch and Rajouri districts have no protection at all. These hamlets could be targeted by the militants very easily to make an international news and appease their mentors sitting across the border, the experts pointed out.

These experts recalled that a similar problems was faced in Nagaland in 60s. To meet the challenge of insurgents, the then Government had adopted a clear policy and clubbed the scattered population in one village where they were provided all basic facilities besides protection by security forces.

Regarding financial implications of such a proposal, the experts felt that ‘money should be no consideration for the Government where lives of people were involved’.

‘The proposal was still working very well in Nagaland and people had refused to return to their hamlets", the experts asserted and voiced deep concern over failure of both Centre as well as State Governments in formulating such a proposal for Jammu, where several people had been massacred in last over one decade.

"The Centre owes an explanation as to why it wasn’t trying to implement the proposal, despite suggestions given by anti-insurgency experts, which could help in averting the killings of soft targets", they said.

According to experts, Pakistan having failed thrice in direct wars with India was now challenging Indian army’s supremacy through proxy war. Entire Northern Command was presently busy in fighting insurgency and even had no time for special training and expertise of army.

Experts were of the view that Kashmiri people should clearly understand that Pakistan has no love for them. Through proxy war, Pakistan was eyeing Chenab and Jhelum rivers for boosting its economy, they added.

Three Services headquarters to be integrated: Govt

NEW DELHI, May 11: The Cabinet Commitee on Security (CCS) tonight decided to integrate the three headquarters of the armed forces and create an intelligence co-ordination group and a defence intelligence agency to bolster national security apparatus.

"Service headquarters will be integrated headquarters of the Ministry of Defence rather than attached officers," Home Minister L K Advani told reporters after a two-hour meeting which accepted all recommendations of the Group of Ministers on national security.

The issue of appointment of Chief of Defence Staff did not come up for discussion today and would be decided by the CCS after consultations with opposition parties and NDA partners, Advani, alongwith Defence Minister Jaswant Singh and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, said.

The CCS also decided to create a defence procurement board for major procurement functions and prepare a holistic and integrated defence perspective plan for 15 to 20 years, Advani said.

On the integration of the service headquarters, Advani said this would lead to "progressive de-centralisation of decision-making and delegation of powers to service headquarters".

The CCS, which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee, was attended by Ministers of External Affairs and Defence, Finance and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman besides Mr Advani.

The meeting, which lasted two hours, accepted all the other 23 recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Mr Advani, including the creation of a Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Mr Advani said the process of consultations with political parties on the CDS issue would start after the Prime Minister’s return from Malayasia and a decision was expected to be taken before the beginning of Parliament’s monsoon session in July.

External Affairs and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh briefed the CCS on the talks he had held with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Bush administration’s latest National Missile Defence (NMD) plan.

Mr Armitage, who has come as a special Emissary of US president George Bush, held talks during the day with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mr Jaswant Singh and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra to brief them on the global security framework, being planned by the Bush administration.

India has already extended qualified support to the NMD plan.

During last week’s three-day visit by Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov, the issue of NMD prominently figured during bilateral talks. Moscow had earlier expressed reservations on any missile defence plan.

The CDS is supposed to be the "single-point reference" for the Government in the nuclear command and control system. The post has been deemed necessary in the light of the nuclear weaponisation, set in motion by the Pokhran-II tests.

The task force on higher defence management, set up in the wake of the Kargil war of 1999, had recommended that the national strategic forces should be commanded by a CDS as a tri-service representative of the defence services.

The task force, headed by the former Minister of State for Defence, Mr Arun Singh, was one of the four formed on the basis of the Kargil review committee report to revamp the national security establishment. The other task forces were on intelligence, internal security and border management.

The report of the task force, submitted to the Group of Ministers (GOM) had suggested that the CDS command the strategic forces and supervise all institutions of tri-service nature to bring about optimal level of jointness.

It was also recommended that the CDS be treated as "first among equals" though he should be technically of the same rank as the individual chiefs of each of the three services. Besides, the CDS should function as the Chief Military Adviser to the Defence Minister.

Departing from the seniority principle, the task force had said that the CDS should be selected in "merit". In practice, that would mean the panel from where the Government can make its choice can include the heads of the army commands or officers of equivalent rank in the Indian Air Force and the Navy. The retirement age for the CDS can be 62 years to ensure he enjoys a minimum fixed tenure of two years.

The five nuclear powers, besides Israel and Pakistan, have created a post of CDS in their armed forces. (UNI)