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Low Intensity Conflicts in India: An Analysis by Lt Col Vivek Chadha. Sage Publications, New Delhi. Pages 513. Rs 495.
India has unenviable distinction of playing host to various forms of LIC in the course of history such as insurgency, terrorism, revolutionary warfare, partisan warfare and civil war. While each suffered from its own peculiarity given regional, time and space perspective, the same realisation was lacking in the process of conflict management resulting protracted struggles. This book forms a part of his extensive study under the auspices of the USI and Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research. Donning Maharana Partap Chair during study, the author narrates various facets of LIC in India and the role of armed forces, combining scholarship with hands-on experience. With a forward by late J. N. Dixit, the book has 18 chapters, which are further divided into four parts. The author brings out India’s Independence under the shadow of one long LIC, as probably a significant event of the 20th century. But post-independent India equally saw the bloody conflict of LIC on a sustained basis. The genesis of it was, however, laid down by the British by sowing seeds of fragmentation and constant friction. In fact, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, in his interview to the BBC on November 16, 2002, acknowledged their questionable record during Partition. Later, the similar role was played by the US to serve its strategic interests. According to the author, India has gained rich experience in LIC, which has become a common factor in its external wars and internal strives. Pakistan is also acting as a bulwark for China in carrying out a low-intensity fight with India. On the other hand, political activisms seen in Punjab, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Gorkhaland have its reasons of discontent. Chances of emerging conflicts are also seen in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. But very often, there is a tendency, writes the author, to study the causes of a particular conflict and thereafter superimpose these on every struggle. In this context, the present study has brought out the comparison amongst various flash points with revealing observations and deductions thereby contesting the belief of social scientists. All the struggles are like long meandering rivers, says Chadha, where every turn has its specific importance and influence in the course of events. Concerted efforts have been made in the book to analyse the causes of a conflict in the light of history of an area and the relevance of deep-rooted factors. This is equally essential for armed forces to understand, appreciate and comprehend the relevance and importance of these conflicts. Speaking prognostically, the author finds downward trends in secessionists and revolutionary tendencies in the coming decades, keeping in view the people-centric nature of low-intensity conflicts. India has just started reaping the fruits of economic liberalisation, public health and education, effects of which are likely to reach the masses in the future. The process of self-governance is encouraging people to improve their condition, which itself is likely to arrest the contagion of low-intensity conflicts. A comprehensive policy further supplements this for resolution of LIC in India, suggests the author. But it is the revised maxim, as coined by Chadha that if you wish for peace, understand war, particularly the guerilla war and subversive forms of warfare. A well-researched book, it
can be useful for policy makers, researchers and students of defence and
strategic studies. |
LOW-intensity
conflicts (LICs) are often misunderstood as law and order problem and a
routine role performed by the police. On the other extreme, such
conflicts are seen as full-fledged wars best left to the Army to
resolve. Instead, LICs represent an amalgam of low-intensity simmering
fires, which have the potential to climb the intensity ladder, and
further, given the cost-effective option. They are equally employed by
the major powers in world politics to establish governments of their
choice in states that become pawn in their ideological and geo-political
strategy.