Four northeastern states share their borders with Myanmar, and the movement of people has been going on since 1947. The fencing project is being seen by non-Meiteis as a political initiative.

Luv Puri

Journalist And Author

THE TRIBUNE DEBATE BORDER FENCING

ON February 6, Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the Centre was committed to building impenetrable borders. He mentioned that it had been decided to construct a fence along the 1,643-km-long India-Myanmar border. He added that this would facilitate better surveillance, even as a patrol track along the border would be paved.

In the context of national security, the fencing of borders has often caught the fancy of the political leadership worldwide. It is often seen as a solution to the multiple threats emanating from across the border. Governments are quick to undertake fencing to assuage the anxieties of citizens. One needs to examine the efficacy of fencing on the basis of evidence from various parts of the world.

The Berlin Wall acted as a fence between the two ideological and geographical poles of the Cold War — West and East Germany. Reportedly, an estimated 100,000 people tried to escape, and some 5,000 made it. Around 700 miles of the 1,933-mile-long US-Mexico border, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the tip of South Texas, is fenced. The fence reportedly has landing mats and corrugated metal of surplus material from the Vietnam War. There is also a ‘floating fence’ that sits atop the dunes. For more than a decade, the fence has pitted Democrats and Republicans, who argue that current US asylum laws encourage the flow of immigrants from poorer Central Americans into the US. During the 2016 US presidential campaign, Donald Trump had floated the idea of constructing a wall to stop the inflow. But during his presidency, he failed to execute it because of the huge financial outlays involved; at some places, constructing a wall was nearly impossible due to the geography.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan fencing project was initiated in 2017 to halt the free flow of population on both sides of the 2,640-km-long Durand Line. While it has obstructed the movement of Pashtun tribes, videos on social media show that people are being smuggled by hiding them in goods vehicles and bribing personnel of the Pakistani Frontier Constabulary at designated border posts.https://9275fcf1cf3249c184846c28aaa0c1c4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

Without doubt, India’s principal national security threat in the past three decades has emanated from the 198-km International Border (IB) and 740-km Line of Control (LoC). Numerous attacks that shook the security establishment were carried out by men who came through this frontier. Then officer in charge of the IB in J&K, BSF Inspector General Vijay Raman, had told the author in December 2001 during a tour to the fencing sites that the project would be a game-changer for national security. The officer, who led the operation in which the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, Pakistan national Gazi Baba, was killed in Srinagar in August 2003, had stated that the fencing project was shelved in 1995 due to objections by Pakistan, which considered the IB in J&K, unlike in Punjab and Rajasthan, as a ‘working boundary’. However, keeping in mind that the unfenced IB poses a risk to critical national assets such as railway and national highway infrastructure, which is not far from the border, the government decided to ignore protests and complete the project. In a few years, fencing along the IB and the LoC, which was more difficult because of the hilly terrain, was completed.

Notwithstanding the fact that fencing brought down infiltration, including the influx of terrorists and smugglers, it never became a foolproof deterrent. Many geopolitical factors led to the absence of support from the Pakistani army to curb infiltration. In practical terms, one can still map infiltration routes that are used by infiltrators along the IB as rivulets and heavy seasonal flooding render the fencing useless. As per the Pulwama attack chargesheet of the National Investigation Agency, one of the prime accused, Umar Farooq, nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar, had infiltrated through the Samba plains in April 2018 along the India-Pakistan border. Forty security personnel were killed as the 2019 attack brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a war-like situation. Another instance that came to light from the same area was a foiled bid to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in J&K in April 2022. A truck driver had transported two terrorists after infiltration from the Samba sector and another person had sheltered them.

These incidents reflect that terrorists are still managing to sneak in through the IB. The introduction of drones has upset the security calculations. Drones have been regularly spotted in the airspace over the plains in border areas in Punjab and J&K. A drone operated from Pakistan’s Sialkot district had dropped explosives at the Indian Air Force station in June 2021, causing injuries to two personnel.https://9275fcf1cf3249c184846c28aaa0c1c4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html

The situation is far more complex in the North East. Unlike the Pakistan frontier, except the upward and downward trend of militancy in the region, there is no serious security threat to the hinterland. Four northeastern states share their borders with Myanmar, and the movement of people had been going on since 1947. The Free Movement Regime had only provided official legitimacy to the situation that existed on the ground. The fencing project is being seen by non-Meiteis such as Chins, Mizos, Kukis, Zomis, Hmars and Kuki-Chins, who belong to the Zo community, as a political initiative. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who comes from the Meitei ethnic stock, had attributed the ongoing violence in the state to the unregulated movement of people from Myanmar. Non-Meiteis feel that the fencing project would sever their age-old contact with co-ethnic people across the frontier in Myanmar.

Right now, the fencing is in its initial stages as a 10-km stretch in Moreh, Manipur, has been fenced; coverage of 20 km in Manipur has been approved. The practical aspects of the project are still being factored in. Leave aside the rationale of ethnic aspirations and familial ties, the fencing plan that demands huge financial commitment and manpower will have to consider global as well as regional experience. The overwhelming evidence is that fences are hardly foolproof, particularly in arduous terrain and in the context of enduring ethnic and familial bonds.

The Free Movement Regime has failed to cement people-to-people contact. Instead, it has led to the unfettered movement of terrorists, drug smugglers and gun-runners.

Jaideep Saikia

Security & Terrorism Analyst

THE TRIBUNE DEBATE BORDER FENCING

FENCES are not walls. They are latter-day creations in accordance with the Westphalian concept to manage legal, regulated movement between historically undemarcated territories that continue to be, in certain cases, contested.

The manner in which the Partition was carried out in 1947 left people on both sides of a united expanse with similarities in identities but political differences. Punjab and Bengal bore the brunt of the division.

India’s claim over entire Kashmir is iron-clad, fence or no fence. Pakistan’s illegal occupation of parts of Kashmir and the fence that demarcates the Line of Control (LoC) at present are matters that are inseparable from Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The fencing of the entire LoC is, therefore, a national security imperative. Incursion into Kashmir is a planned affair. It takes place with lunar cycle regularity. The Indian security forces deployed in the Valley need the fence. It is there to both guard it and ensure that intruders are neutralised.

If a comparison is drawn with the fence in the North East, the most important aspect that must be addressed is illegal migration from Bangladesh to India. This is largely due to economic reasons. Of late, climate change in south Bangladesh, whereby the waters of the Bay of Bengal are flooding some regions, is also responsible for the illegal ingress.

The fence between India and Bangladesh continues to be a ragtag one because of riverine issues, but the migration has been controlled to a great extent.

The fact that Sheikh Hasina’s government has been able to improvise work visas with several countries for the growing Bangladeshi labour force has reduced illegal migration into India. It is in this context that the India-Myanmar fencing proposal must be examined.

There are many naysayers who are of the view that the fencing of the entire 1,643-km border is not a sound idea. These critics are raising matters ranging from the end of the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which permits denizens residing along the boundary on either side to travel 16 km into the other country without a visa for trade, to the human aspect pertaining to the demographic contiguity that characterises India and Myanmar along the border. But a dispassionate cost-benefit assessment would show that the pros outnumber the cons.

The current unrest in Manipur is a direct result of the porous India-Myanmar border. After the military takeover in February 2021, Valley-Based-Insurgent Groups (VBIGs) in Myanmar’s Sagaing division had arrived at an understanding with the Myanmarese army.

The VBIGs will no longer be touched, harassed or ousted from their safe havens in what has come to be known as the northern, central and southern clusters in Sagaing division. In return, the VBIGs would have to help the army quell the civil unrest that erupted after the coup d’etat.

The development led to an end to the modicum of military cooperation that had been witnessed in the years preceding the military takeover by way of Operations Sunrise-I and Sunrise-II, which demolished several India Insurgent Groups’ (IIGs) camps in and around Taga (a hunting ground for IIGs just west of the Chindwin river). Manipur has witnessed the entry of VBIG cadres to battle the Kukis and the security forces.

It is a matter of concern that the porous border facilitates illegal migration of people and the smuggling of drugs and arms.

Furthermore, certain groups from Myanmar, who have social affiliations with residents of Manipur, have entered the state and begun to occupy forest lands.

Several thousand anti-junta rebels have fled to India since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar. Of late, even the Myanmarese army personnel had begun to enter Mizoram in a bid to escape the pursuing People’s Defence Force (the National Unity Government’s armed wing) and various ethnic militias.

The government’s commitment to constructing impenetrable borders is laudable. The decision to build a fence along the India-Myanmar border will facilitate better surveillance and prevent illegal migration and entry of VBIGs from across Myanmar.

The fencing has nothing to do with the Neighbourhood First Policy. Even if the FMR has to be jettisoned, so be it. I cannot think of one reason why it was a great idea, even when it came into being in 2018. If the FMR was unveiled in order to keep border trade alive, there are several mechanisms to ensure its continuance, including the ‘border haat’ system that is in place on the India-Bangladesh border.

The Assam Rifles, which guards the border with tenacity and for which it is now being targeted in Manipur, would testify to the fact that although all borders are in the final analysis imaginary, walls make better neighbours. Even beasts mark their territory and would not countenance trespass. Along the India-Myanmar border, it has been trespass, transgression and temerity. If one is questioning the decision to fence the border by arguing that it would sound the death knell for people-to-people contact, it must be stated that the FMR has not achieved that purpose by any measure. If anything, it has only facilitated the unfettered movement of terrorists, drug smugglers and gun-runners.

Also, the contiguity that characterises, for instance, the Naga people (if the broad social formation can be termed ‘Naga people’) is not limited to the 16 km that the FMR has permitted, but it can actually go all the way to Taga, a place that is inhabited by Rangpang Nagas.

Harsh times call for tough calls. The situation in Manipur, Myanmar and Mizoram, intertwined as it is with a curious mix, calls for courageous decisions.

Manipur is not offering any easy solution. It is also known that much of the subterfuge in Manipur is a result of the sinister and motivated entry of the VBIGs into the state from Myanmar’s Sagaing division.

It must be understood that India’s national security is paramount. If the borderlands have to be fenced, so be it.

India is an aspirant to a place at the high table of international power politics. For that, a reputation for strategic dependability is a sine qua non.

Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (Retd)

Former Addl Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies

MANY vital events are expected to unfold in the coming months. Statements such as “this is not an era of war” have been proven wrong many times over, exemplified by the Russia-Ukraine conflict that is in its third year. While Russia has held firm with its objective, backed by a robust military-industrial complex, the Western powers are finding it tough to continue pouring in billions of dollars — with no end in sight — to help Ukraine oppose Moscow’s sustained pressure. China is continuing with its expansionist acts off its Eastern Pacific coast, with l’affaire Taiwan being the subject of many conjectures about Beijing’s next step. There are the ‘forgotten’ conflicts in Africa, masked now by the Russia-Ukraine-China activities — and all have been overtaken by the Palestine-Israel conflagration that threatens to engulf the region by drawing in Iran, the US, West Asian and Gulf nations. Where does this volatile environment place India in the run-up to its General Election, with an unstable Pakistan on its west and an inimical China up north? It is vital that New Delhi gets its strategy right in the ongoing churn in the world order.

The cliché that there are no permanent friends or enemies in international relations, just permanent interests, could not be more apt in the present churn. Accordingly, we are utilising the Quad grouping as well as advancing friendships with South East Asian countries to send out a message to Beijing, while holding our own amid conflicting diplomatic pulls in the conflicts west of us. In these manoeuvrings, it is vital that Henry Kissinger be invoked for what he wrote in his book World Order. Commenting on international relationships, Kissinger opined: “… in international affairs a reputation for reliability is a more important asset than demonstration of tactical cleverness.”

These are wise words as India grapples with Chinese attempts at influencing its neighbours; the downturn in relations with Maldives (despite aid offered to it at critical times) is emblematic of the challenges before us. Do other neighbours, such as Bhutan and Nepal, see us as a reliable partner or is India viewed as a dominating big brother? In our attempt to buttress our sphere of influence, have we overassessed our capabilities and got a faux sense of power?

Power is the ability of a state to create outcomes and, more importantly, sustain them. National power has two major aspects. First, the possession of capability to process an aim and second, the ‘will’ to action it. Having the capability but not the will is a non-starter for any aspirational nation. However, this is less damaging than starting on a path without the capability to carry it through to fruition. The ‘will’ is an intangible that represents political ambition, while ‘capability’ is material in nature — call it having the ‘strategic depth’ in terms of economic strength, R&D, manufacturing capacity, military strength and qualified human resources to back the ‘capability.’ The possession of capability and a consistent demonstration of the will to use it bring in the reliability factor. The moot point is whether we have ‘arrived’ in the international arena with such credentials. World history, perhaps, has some pointers.

Nations and empires have risen to eminence and then faded away. Paul Kennedy’s seminal work, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, lays this bare. These cyclical episodes arise from rising aspirations of a country which feels that its time has come for pre-eminence in the pecking order; nothing wrong in improving one’s standing, except that its translation to attempted dominance has always resulted in conflict, as Kennedy’s work brings out. This fact cannot be wished away and in the realist world must be planned for so that one does not come across as being flippant in international interaction. To quote Kissinger again, “… history punishes strategic frivolity sooner than later.” So, strategic dependability and reliability are what India should be seen as offering its friends.

Strategic reliability flows from the economic and military strength of a nation. Certain events do not read too well vis-à-vis our dependability. India’s friend, former President Najibullah, was hung by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996 — we couldn’t help him; in August 2021, then President Ashraf Ghani couldn’t be propped up despite our attempts. Oil purchases from Iran, India’s major supplier of crude, were curtailed in mid-2019 following demarches by the US following the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal. Similarly, stopping the export of rice in July 2023 resulted in frantic and desperate calls worldwide for restoration, including from the IMF. During Covid times, after having offered help to poorer countries for vaccines, the exports were stopped due to internal requirements, which resulted in adverse reactions. Nepal, for example, had to suspend its vaccination programme. Then there is the issue of stoppage of Gorkha recruitment in the Indian Army (due to the Agnipath scheme), which was a vital employment outlet for Nepalese youth. Bhutan, critical for our security, now has a quarter of its trade with China, is directly discussing border problems with it and is substantially dependent on Beijing for telecom and road building. Does Thimphu feel that our capability vis-à-vis the Chinese is suspect? Bangladesh, like the Maldives, seems to be having a nascent ‘India Out’ political campaign, while Sri Lanka still blows hot and cold to India’s objections to increasing Chinese influence in its polity.

We certainly have many strong points working for us and need to build on them by enhancing R&D, manufacturing, per capita GDP, etc. — so that we enhance strategic dependability. There is no harm in learning from the Chinese, who for decades followed Deng Xiaoping’s dictum “hide your capability bide your time” before making their move with firm commitments. India is an aspirant to a place at the high table of international power politics; for that, a reputation for strategic dependability is a sine qua non. One hopes that India’s political leadership accepts this truism.

New Delhi, March 1

Considering free, fair, and peaceful parliamentary elections in West Bengal, the Centre has deployed 100 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the first phase of deployment, with 820 additional companies scheduled to be relocated gradually in separate phases, officials said.

The move comes days after the Election Commission sought the deployment of a maximum of 920 CAPF companies in West Bengal.

New Delhi, March 1

Three squadrons of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which played an important role in the wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, along with the base repair depot of the IAF, will get President’s Standard and Colours from President Droupadi Murmu at the Air Force Station, Hindan, on March 8.

Acknowledgement of excellence

The award is an acknowledgement of the operational excellence, dedication and proven contribution of these units both during peace and war. Air Marshal PM Sinha, aoc-in-c, western air command

Among the squadrons to get the colours is 11 Base Repair Depot that repairs fighter aircraft. It is tasked with overhauling MiG-29 and Su-30 MKI aircraft.

45 Squadron that files the Tejas jets will also get the colours. On August 1, 1965, when Pakistan launched a massive attack in the Chhamb sector, the 45 Squadron was the first IAF unit to launch offensive missions on the first day of the conflict.

221 Squadron that flies the Sukhoi 30 MKI will also get the colours. It was pressed into action in the eastern theatre during the 1965 India-Pakistan War. During the 1971 war, operating in the eastern theatre, the squadron undertook extensive counter air, close air support and photo reconnaissance missions.

The attack over Kurmitola and Tezgaon airbases resulted in destruction of several Pakistan Air Force jets. During Operation Safed Sagar in the Kargil conflict, the opening ariel shots were fired by the 221 Squadron.

The 509 Signal Unit works in Meghalaya. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the unit emerged as the epicenter of all air defence activities over East Pakistan. A defining moment came with the precision strike on the Governor’s House in Dhaka, orchestrated from the operations room of the unit.

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(Maj Gen Harvijay Singh, SM)

Avdiivka, was a Strong Point preventing Russian forces using Donetsk as a communications hub and preventing a breakout on this axis. The capture of Avdiivka, following months of fighting with heavy casualties on both sides, is a significant gain for Russia – 208 Sq KMs of area captured and a Bridge Head available to expand the offensive. After taking Avdiivka, units of the Centre group of Russian forces have continued advancing in a westerly direction – Russian Defence Ministry statement. Urban Terrain provides many advantages to a weaker force to occupy. Concealment and cover is in abundance. Most buildings are de facto military-grade defensive structures. The defender can manoeuvre easily through known streets and alleys. The maze of buildings also reduces the effect of modern Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems so vital for an attacker. In Syria, fighters hung plastic sheets between rooftops to blind expensive satellites. In contrast, the biggest disadvantage for the attacking force is that it can be seen and engaged by the defenders at will. The human cost however remains high. Tactics Used by the Russians • Infantry Led Combined Arms Offensives, Motorised Infantry Brigades to the Fore: o Supported by artillery (massed), drones, and intense aerial bombardment (including Attack Heptrs) using guided aerial bombs. o Pincer movement (Double Envelopment) on Avdiivka, not very successful due to industrial complexes on northern axis which gave an advantage to the defender. o Russians switched tactics from trying to outflank Avdiivka with fast-paced, exposed armoured assaults to infiltrating infantry to isolate (into smaller pockets) and capture Ukrainian positions piecemeal. o Extensive use of Infantry Combat Vehicles in streets and the industrial zone. o Infantry attacked in waves preceded by heavy artillery and aerial bombardment to exhaust the defence lines. A Ukrainian drone operator reports that Russians advanced at night in groups of five to seven and then attacked at sunrise. • Tunnel Warfare – Innovations more than often not win battles, a feisty innovation it was. o An irregular Russian formation named Dikiya Divisiya (roughly translates as The Wild Division, this group is partially staffed with former Wagner Group personnel) dug a 160-meter-long tunnel underneath a Ukrainian position and detonated explosives, tunnel bomb! o Russian tunnelers entered Avdiivka’s underground drainage network and began digging and clearing debris in abandoned sewage tunnels for several days; in harsh winters, a most unexpected approach? o Raiding parties then used the passage to infiltrate and conduct sneak attacks on Ukrainian positions; gain vital footholds to isolate Ukrainian positions. Russians kept an influx of fresh recruits (including Storm Z Penal units – Convicts) to exert non-stop pressure on exhausted Ukrainian units, draining their resources and forcing them to retreat…… 110th Mechanized Brigade was defending Avdiivka since Mar 2022 and was exhausted. There was a chronic shortage of artillery shells because of delays in EU and US military aid packages. Foggy weather also helped the Russians. Conclusion: Russian forces have regained strategic initiative. Foreign aid for Ukraine in this ‘Election Year’ will be a challenge, politicians, let just say are simply too busy calling each other names – Biden called Putin a SOB…… was the term ‘destitute of all decency’ not reserved for Trump? On a serious note – Has Ukraine crossed an irreversible threshold?

BJP ਆਗੂ ਵਲੋ ਸਿੱਖ IPS ਅਫਸਰ ਨੂੰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਤਾਨੀ ਬੋਲਣ ਨੂੰ ਲੈ ਕੇ MLA Jarnail Singh ਨੇ ਵਿਧਾਨ ਸਭਾ ਚ ਚੁੱਕਿਆ ਮੁੱਦਾ

next course of action on Feb 29: union leader

Patiala, February 23

Hours after the Punjab Government announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job for a sister of young farmer Shubhkaran Singh, who died in alleged Haryana Police firing two days ago, farmer unions spearheading the “Dilli Chalo” march, backed by the victim’s father, demanded that an FIR be first registered against the Haryana Police. However, in the evening, a woman, Veerpal Kaur, said she was the mother of the victim and had “no condition or objection” to the cremation of her son. While the farmer unions and the victim’s father refused to accept the compensation amount or the job offer till an FIR was registered, Shubhkaran’s mother said she wanted a peaceful cremation for her son. Shubhkaran’s post-mortem has been delayed as farmers are pressing for the acceptance of their demands.

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Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said the Punjab CM had promised stern action and an FIR against those responsible for Shubhkaran’s death. “But now we are told that an FIR is not possible,” he said, adding that the next course of action would be decided on February 29. Till then the farmers will stay put at the two protest sites.

In the evening, Veerpal Kaur reached the Government Rajindra Hospital mortuary and was allowed to see her son’s body. Sources said she had agreed to the “autopsy of her son” without setting any demand. However, no police or hospital official was willing to comment on it.

Talking to mediapersons, Veerpal Kaur, accompanied by her mother, said she had been living separately from her husband for the past over 13 years owing to some issues, but was in touch with Shubhkaran. “I am shattered… I am affiliated with no union and have no demand. I just want a peaceful cremation,” she said. She said though she had remarried, she could not hold herself back when she heard about her son’s death. Talking to The Tribune, Medical Superintendent, Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, Dr Harnam Singh Rekhi, said till the police gave a written request, the “post-mortem cannot be conducted”

Earlier, senior farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said more than the agitation, they were concerned about getting justice for Shubhkaran. “Only the Punjab Government can solve the issue by filing an FIR against the ‘guilty’ cops.

Meanwhile, barring stray incidents of “farmers locking horns with some journalists”, things remained peaceful with no confrontation between the Haryana Police and the protesters at the borders.

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