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On the occasion of the Army Day, India as a nation, salutes its soldiers for displaying extraordinary valour whilst defending the nation against numerous threats and challenges posed to its external and internal security. While appreciating its various expanded tasks, the role of the army in border management deserves special mention given that India shares land borders with seven countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and a small segment with Afghanistan in northern J&K, now part of the Northern Areas of PoK. With operational commitments continuing to remain on high-alert status especially along the unresolved and contentious borders with China and Pakistan, the Indian Army has assumed a manpower-intensive border management role.
Besides, the challenge of coping with porous borders has added on to the responsibility even more. Securing Indian borders primarily refers to prohibiting cross-border terrorism and infiltration of terrorists/militants; breaking the nexus between narco trade and narco arms; illegal migration; and network of insurgency and separatist movements fuelled by nations inimical to India’s security and prosperity. The Task Force Committee on Border Area Development Programme had stated in October 2007, that borders should showcase the high-growth of Indian economy. Indeed, it needs to be recognized that the unrelenting vigil provided by the army has contributed in maintaining this growth.
Additionally, the Task Force on Border Management headed by former Home Secretary, Madhav Godbole had highlighted issues including border-fencing, safeguarding of air space, checking infiltration and smuggling activities, restructuring of paramilitary forces, guarding the borders, and adoption of modern technology as a force multiplier. In this light, the army can certainly perform its functions for border management in a far more effective manner if preeminence in communications, surveillance technology and reconnaissance systems is made available.
It has been witnessed over centuries that victory in war is won by the army which learns to adapt and acclimatise faster to evolving concepts and trends of new-age warfare. Over the last decade, Asia’s increasing defence expenditures have kept pace with its economic growth, with many Asian countries recording increases in military spending and undertaking robust military modernisation programmes. Although Indian defence forces are modernising, the efforts to do so have been thwarted due to lack of adequate budgetary support and slow decision making, in turn, making the pace of modernisation rather sluggish.
Additionally, upgrading of logistics infrastructure in the border areas is essential to facilitate swifter mobilization of troops. India appears to have note of the laxity in so far as upgrading logistics infrastructure in the border areas with China in Arunachal Pradesh and eastern Ladakh are concerned. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is scheduled to complete work for at least eight roads that have been termed ‘strategic’ in Arunachal Pradesh by 2013. In the absence of all-weather roads in regions like Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, effectual border management in high-altitude terrain is an arduous task for the Indian army since logistical support from air alone does not suffice.
Moreover, surviving in high-altitude terrain is a grueling task that the soldiers undergo especially in areas such as the Siachen Glacier where the mercury dips to 60 degrees below freezing point and the annual cumulative snowfall is anywhere between 10 to 15 m. While combating extremes of weather and terrain, the soldiers are required to follow a multi-stage acclimatisation schedule as they prepare to get used to the rarified atmosphere. Owing to the extreme winters, battalions and brigades remain cut off due to passes like Zoji La and Razdhan closing for the winter. The soldiers receive training on ice-craft, spend longer periods in fibre glass huts, bunkers, ice caves and ice tunnels and learn to operate weapons and other survival techniques for extreme weather conditions.
The crux of successful border management lies in the synchronized coordination between the army, paramilitary and police forces. If borders are to be effectively managed, then a central control mechanism has to be charted out so that division of responsibility does not result in chaos as far as securing the frontiers of the nation are concerned.
Today, the army is committed to manning India’s borders by virtue of large deployments amounting to 100,000 personnel in J&K and an almost equal number in the Northeast. As far as the Northeast is concerned, it was decided in 2009 that a joint mechanism between the civilian and military intelligence agencies would be established for managing the borders. This could be with reference to the Chinese side, where the entire LAC is managed by the Border Guards divisions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which comes under the command of a single PLA commander. As far as India’s western sector is concerned, the entire border with Pakistan is manned by the Border Security Force (BSF), however the LoC remains the responsibility of the army with some BSF battalions placed under its operational control. Given that the army is fulfilling its border management tasks, which contribute towards national security, the recent nomination of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as the national-level counter-insurgency force is likely to make possible for other central paramilitary forces such as the BSF and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to contribute to their primary role of border management.
Therefore, even as it is acknowledged that the Indian army has successfully fulfilled its border management responsibilities, periodical review of strategies pertaining to border management need to be taken cognizance of since it constitutes to be an integral part of a larger dissuasive defence strategy.
Dr Monika Chansoria is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi
Courtesy: The Indian Express, 15 January 2011
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