Surinder Singh

INDIA has live borders touching Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Borders with Nepal and Bhutan, sedate and quiet so far, are also showing convulsions. By reductionist logic, one can easily say that if India is today facing the danger of destabilisation on account of infiltration of spies, saboteurs, communal agents, illegal Bangladeshi nationals and terrorists, it is mainly due to our permeable borders. Smuggling on land borders is rampant though bulk of it is carried out by sea and air. Pakistan has been singularly successful in aiding and abetting terrorism earlier in Punjab and now in J&K by pushing in terrorists, arms, ammunition and other sophisticated materials of violence and destruction. As management of security of borders of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat was strengthened by resorting to improved manpower deployment and installation of technological devices, including fencing-cum-lighting, Pakistan redoubled its efforts to exploit the J&K area and other Indian borders touching Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar for its sinister designs.

Pakistan under Mr Nawaz Sharif, especially after its nuclear explosions of May, 98, is now hoisted with its own petard. Hinged to the highest rung of its ambition ladder of seeking parity with India, Pakistan under its rabble-rousing populist leader is jingoistic and xenophobic. “Hostility consensus” has touched its zenith and Pakistan thinks that it has got India on the floor for the first time on account of the over-reaching strategy of the present Indian leadership. Enemy concept seems to have become a part of Pakistan’s socialisation process and has got concretised in government policies and security plans. No doubt, Pakistan has made tremendous strides in gaining near equality in conventional military strength though it was “cut to size” by India in 1971. Of late, Pakistan has been flexing its military muscles on LoC and Siachen glacier. It has deterred India from undertaking fencing of the Jammu border and is boasting that this border has been converted into Line of Control through feverish exchange of fire. To Indian leaders and strategic planners stress conditions on our borders and internal destabilisation process are indicative of threatened national security.

The security development complementarity model as it emerge after India’s armed conflicts of 1962 and 1965 showed its rootedness in nationalistic aspirations and feelings.

The overall security perspective of the country cohered with national ideals i.e. core values and national role conceptions, purposes and policies. This national commitment obliged it to secure its international borders with the help of a peace time non-military apparatus, BSF, however, based on state-centric realistic perspective. The Border Security Force come into existence for guarding borders against the then Pakistan during peace time.

Situation on the borders has undergone a radical change. Several of India’s north-eastern states are gripped with violence at the hands of socio-pathic leaders and secessionist elements. On account of the development and possible employments in border states of sophisticated instruments of low intensity warfare like insurgency, terrorism, infiltration and subversion, the need to enlist public support of border population is paramount. In J&K it has emerged as a stark existential dilemma for the Republic. While preparation of ground work for public support is a political process, the locational imperatives of the Border Security Force facilitate this task. The BSF can and does take part in active propagation of national policy and helps in re-enforcing the loyalty and enthusiasm of the civilian population in the border areas. Now it is all the more necessary for all security forces to function as instruments of social discipline in the country.

While geopolitical compulsions of the country do not form an indivisible whole and different areas require different standards of security, it is high time the Government of India made a realistic appraisal of threat perception of our border areas touching Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. For long now, we have left them to God’s care and the National Security Council needs to have a hard look at it before events overtake the planners and groundlevel security actors. Internal security aspects of neighbouring countries are acquiring devious dimensions and they substantially impact both India’s borders and interior parts. For the supreme interest of domestic security, it serves no good purpose to separate border security from internal security. Erosion of social unity is a veritable threat for all security management agencies of the state. The BSF is ever going to experience the pressure of stressful conditions in the interior parts.

All arming policy and organisational aspects of the BSF should be based on functional-cum-growth basis. At present, headquarters of IGs, and DIGs are having far too many units to direct and administer. This militates against operational effectiveness. Similarly making BSF units more viable and strong is more in tune with the unfolding security environment, developments and postures in the South Asian Region. In the operational field, the BSF should be encouraged to employ updated deterrence strategies to achieve the desired results. Intellectual efforts and well-springs of professional thought should be directed towards those aspects of border security which are critical to national security. It would not serve the BSF well if its members are allowed to hold a viewpoint which disdains contact with civilians and social institutions. This perspective should not be associated with the professional ethics of the BSF. The BSF must visualise and assess the critical aspects of the diverse social milieu in which it will be functioning in the foreseeable future. Borders cape and its crime pattern are changing fast. Given sound projection of demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the work-space, the future pattern of crime can be guesstimated. BSF leaders have to develop their applicatory education necessary for effective execution of jobs in this changing work-space. Terrorism in border states is one such frightful development which has upset several of our conventional security assumptions.

Pakistan’s renewed fixation with Kashmir after its nuclear tests in May has caused new tremors in the region. The Islamic resurgence triangle formed by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, the green crescent, casts an ugly shadow on India’s secular edifice. Both at the contiguous and regional levels, the shadow of the military strategic threat of a monolithic China will loom disquietingly large on India’s security horizon, Pakistan’s strident tirade against India for drawing the attention of major actors of the world is not only irritating but menacing. India has to forge cultivated responses at political, diplomatic and military levels to the conflictual stimuli present in the regional environments. Free flow of weapons in Pakistan has made its social order highly vulnerable and explosive. Sindh province has been undergoing violent tremors for the last one decade and Karachi is burning incessantly. Military crackdown in Karachi is going to unleash violent forces. Indo-Pakistan borders are going to experience new convulsions forcing India to strengthen its arrangements of border security. Security posture has to assume the “defended” status in place of the “secured” one. This is a quantum jump.

All eyes are on the newly formed National Security Council. What will go on its anvil first as it makes its strategic appraisal of nation’s security needs? Security community leaders and strategic analysts want that there should be an integrated approach to the subject of border security of India’s international borders. Border security arrangements should be rationalised. All border guarding forces like the BSF, the ITBP and Assam Rifles should come under one Indian Border services with bulk of leadership coming from integral resources. This merger should be planned over a multi-year span of 10 years to obviate any administrative or personnel aberrations and bottlenecks. Training ecology for units should be developed and training schools organised at suitable locations for emerging tasks. As internal stabilisation operations are going to be allotted to border guarding forces reserve units should be made to undergo rigorous training for envisaged tasks. What I anticipate is, given the progressive employment of technology and resource inputs for strengthening border security especially of Indo-Pak borders, more is needed to be done in the domain of “form” and “emphasis” than in the “matter”. Nation’s citizenry may, meanwhile, wait with bated breath to know the manner in which political and security leaders address the problem of dangers looming on our live borders. Do they have the time, desire and vision?

Surinder Singh is a retired IG of the BSF.
 

Courtesy: Tribune:  05 December 1998