Insurgency challenge

Insurgency challenge

Both Kashmir and Chhattisgarh show up BJP's deficient handling of security.
In yet another attack on an army camp in Jammu & Kashmir, two jawans and an officer have been killed and at least five other soldiers injured in a pre-dawn fidayeen strike by terrorists in Kupwara district. Although two suspected Jaish-e-Muhammed militants were also neutralised in the exchange of fire, the attack highlights how precarious the security situation is in J&K. With protest violence also on the rise in the state, Kashmir is giving the impression of a veritable war zone.
Similarly, the recent Maoist attack on CRPF jawans in Chhattisgarh's Sukma ¬ which left 25 personnel dead ¬ shows that authorities have failed to effectively tackle the insurgency in the country's heart land. Poorly trained and bereft of a specialist intelligence wing, local language skills and a higher management proficient in counter in surgency , CRPF has odds heavily stacked against it in the Maoist red zone. In fact, the paramilitary organisation was headless since February and only got a chief two days after the Sukma attack. With such structural weaknesses, CRPF is having difficulty serving as an effective counterinsurgent force. Combine that with a record of repeated strikes and successive breaches of perimeter defence on armed forces bases in J&K, under the watch of the NDA government.
What's needed is a smart security grid that brings together different agencies, enhances coordination among them, and provides resources, equipment, personnel, training and leadership where needed. Security is supposed to be BJP's strong suit. But attacks on Indian security personnel frequently take place under the BJP-led dispensation at the Centre as they did before. It's time to move beyond the chest thumping and patriotic palaver, and get down to the nuts and bolts of improving India's security infrastructure.