Since the advent of independence, India has faced multitude of security challenges

to its nationhood - both external and internal - and to its emergence as a

deservingly significant player in the global order. Located in one of the most security
and politically stressed regions of the world, and with some not so friendly
neighbours, sharing nearly 7000 km of active international borders with seven
nations, and a coastline spanning over 15000 km, Indias external security
challenges are indeed formidable.

External challenges, in todays increasingly troubled world, are by no means,

exclusive in their orientation and impact. Indias internal security challenges, since
decades, have also been pronouncedly sponsored and largely influenced by external
machinations and subterfuge. However, it is also an accepted reality that, in recent
times, external and internal threats do overlap seamlessly, apart from having
multiplied in their intensity. Asymmetric and proxy wars are part of this new
dynamic.

Over the last 70 years, Indias internal conflicts have ranged from Pakistani planned
and supported insurgency, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other Indian states,
on-off-on internal unrest in some of Indias restive North Eastern (NE) states
including Assam. Additionally, persistent efforts by Pakistans notorious spy agency,
the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), to foment communal trouble in Punjab and fan
Khalistani separatism, growing Naxal-Maoist Left Wing Extremism (LWE) threats in
Indias hinterland, occasional sectarian, communal and language tensions, organized
crime, money laundering, drug trafficking and now cyber driven crimes are the
major internal security challenges confronting the Indian state. That since the last 2
years or so there has also been an upsurge in undesirable right wing extremist
tendencies among some fringe elements inside India cannot be denied.

Common Factors Impacting Internal Security in India

Internal Security has many constituents and apart from external influences
impacting it, there exist certain common factors which , historically, impinged its
contours in the Indian context. Some of these are briefly discussed below.
India is home to countless faiths and sub faiths, cultures, castes, languages,
regions, customs and its diversity, though uniquely beautiful, is indeed mind
boggling. By conservative estimates, India is home to nearly 1660 languages (22
official) and dialects, nearly 3000 castes and sub-castes and virtually all known
world religions - making India, indeed, a microcosm of the world. Unquestionably,
Indias quintessential strength lies in this diversity, yet it also lends itself to major
internal strife when provoked both from within or by external influences. The other
nation born from the womb of Mother India since the parent nations violent partition
in 1947, Pakistan, remains obsessively anti-India, grossly interfering in Indias
internal affairs, fanning terrorism not only in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) but in some
other states also besides endeavouring to foist separatist feelings in some states of
India, notably Punjab, Assam and in Naxal-Maoist afflicted regions. Pakistans
continuing mischief inside India has adversely afflicted Indias internal security
health - a factor which successive Indian governments have tended to
underestimate despite wars with Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and the 1999
Kargil conflict .
Mediocre and insensitive governance in some states, especially those reeking in
poverty and caste divides, also lend themselves to adverse internal conflicts within
the nation. One of the major reasons leading to the alarming growth of LWE can be
clearly attributed to this factor plaguing the nation apart from other aspects which
lend themselves to the growth in LWE. Some politicians of varying ideological hues,
pandering to their local vote banks indulge in electoral communal mobilisation by
provoking imaginary divides, and stoke the fires of regionalism and separatism for
temporary gains. That the people of India, through whom an invisible but an eternal
strand symbolizing Unity in Diversity runs, have thwarted such devious ambitions
of some politicians, time and again, is the saving grace.

India is now a youth- predominant nation, with over 65 percent of its population
being under 35 years, which makes India into a very aspirational society. Millions of
youth seek suitable employment, better living standards and a million dreams of
theirs remain to be fulfilled. Any delays on such vital societal issues automatically
contributes to economic and social frustrations which may lead to serious law and
order problems besides youth finding their way to anti-national organizations
including being influenced by international terror, smuggling networks et al.
The nuances of some of the serious internal security challenges and suggested
national response to contain/manage/eliminate the internal conflicts within India are
discussed briefly in the succeeding paragraphs.
Tackling Terrorism and Asymmetric Warfare
Since the last many decades, the phenomenon of terrorism has been an alarmingly
spreading scourge of the modern age. One of the nations most affected by it has
been India owing to its neighbour, Pakistan, having adopted terrorism as an
extension of state policy to destabilize India. Not only in J&K but in other Indian
states too, Pakistan has been zealously pursuing its anti-India, though myopic
policies, of fomenting terror and unrest. As universally accepted after the 9/11 terror
attacks in the US homeland, Pakistan is the fountainhead of most terror activities all
over the world. However, now Pakistan is also suffering from intense terror activity
perpetrated by those very terror tanzeems it had raised to carry out its devious
missions in neighbouring India and Afghanistan. Regrettably, Pakistan so far refuses
to see reason with radicalism even permeating its official establishment while its
sane civil society dwindles rapidly. Being a nuclear armed failing state and
coupled with rise in extremism makes Pakistan portend grave dangers for India. As
we cannot expect to witness any major changes in Pakistans highly anti-India
policies, it is crucially imperative for the Indian security establishment to factor in all
security and terror scenarios which may afflict India from its perpetually belligerent
western neighbor, now being substantially supported by its mentor, China. That
Pakistan is a proxy for China, against India, brooks no explanation.

Indias security establishment will also now have to be alive to threats emanating
from global Islamic jihadi outfits like Al Qaida, the Taliban in the Af-Pak region and
now, alarmingly also from Daesh (Islamic State, or IS). Though Indian Muslim youth
have remained unaffected from their vile propagandas, yet a few appear to have
been affected within the nation and thus monitoring the movement of Muslim youth
to the Middle East will have to be ensured. Intelligence agencies will have to keep
under surveillance social media channels which try to influence/ recruit Muslim youth
for terrorist activities as exemplified by ISIS websites. That these global jihadi
outfits will collaborate their activities in the Indian subcontinent with Pakistani based
so-called non-state actors like the Lashkar-e-Taiyabba, Jaish-e-Mohd, Hizb-ul-
Mujaihdeen among many other terror tanzeems in Pakistan, remains a distinct and
dangerous possibility. As the security organs of the nation further streamline their
functioning by synergetic endeavour and undertake better counter-terror capacity
building, the central government has to speedily undertake additional measures to
further strengthen our counter-terror and response mechanisms. All political parties
in India must not politicize terror and a broad national consensus among all these
parties must be reached on the national strategy and measures to be adopted to
combat terror.

Secondly, in keeping with the nations resolve, India must prepare hard-hitting pre-
emptive strike plans on terrorist infrastructure in POK and elsewhere in Pakistan, as
and when required. Thirdly, India must determinedly endeavour to constantly
improve its intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination machinery - both
HUMINT and TECHINT. Pakistan has to be made to realize, both through dialogue
and, failing which, by speedy and effective kinetic responses, that terrorism against
India will not pay. Stern action against all indigenous separatist leaders must be
taken in case they continue to indulge in anti national or any form of secessionist
activities. India must never be seen as a soft state, either by nations inimical to us
and, importantly, by its own citizens. Importantly, India has to raise the costs for
Pakistan whenever it indulges in mischief. Additionally, Pakistan has to be reminded
that till date, India has not exploited Pakistans many fault-lines and Indias strategic
restraint is not Indias permanent policy!

Combating Left Wing Extremism

The late Chinese Communist Party supremo, Mao Tse Tung, had succinctly observed
that Revolutionary Warfare is never confined within the bounds of military action
because its purpose is to destroy an existing society and its institutions and to
replace them with a completely new structure. Among the internal security perils
afflicting India, an alarmingly burgeoning is LWE commonly dubbed as the Naxal-
Maoist threat. The LWE threat currently spans nearly 200 districts spread over 16
states with a wide swathe running across the centre of the Indian hinterland from
the Nepal-Bihar border to the Karnataka and Kerala borders, in a south west
orientation, commonly referred to as The Red Corridor. That these extremists have
categorically proclaimed their objective to seize power in India by protracted war
against the Indian state must be factored in by our security establishment. It is also
well known that some of the areas in this Red Corridor are totally bereft of any
governmental control and the LWE cadres refer to these as liberated zones. That
Naxal-Maoists have cross border linkages with some neighbouring countries
compounds the seriousness of this growing threat to India.

To rid the nation of LWE, it will be prudent to analyse the reasons for the growth of
this scourge in India. These are, a lack of a clear cut national policy in combating
indigenous insurgencies, poor intelligence capability at the grassroots level, ill
equipped, under trained and poorly motivated police and central police organizations
(CPOs). Above all, a total neglect of locally significant development programs in the
LWE infested areas has contributed to the LWE problems. That most state
governments have not implemented the various constitutional forest and land ceiling
laws in these areas, enacted as early as in 1955, to safeguard the basic rights of
tribals and the poor in rural areas has compounded and fuelled LWE. Thus, even
some well educated youth have been drawn to this movement both on idealism and
romantic notions of fighting for the have-nots against a cruel, corrupt and
insensitive establishment.

One of the major causative factors for the growth of Naxal-Maoism is, that since
independence, the fruits of development have not trickled down to the vast
marginalized sections of Indian society. The ever growing disparities among the
many layers in our society is seen by the poor as exploitative of their basic rights
and such sentiments consequently get the underprivileged fall into the trap of the
Naxal-Maoists. It is also a well known fact that some local leaders from different
political dispensations maintain regular contacts with these militants, in their
constituencies, to reap electoral benefits - something which is indeed shameful.
Intelligence reports also indicate that LWE is slowly but surely spreading its tentacles
to urban centres and the National Capital Region which has a fair amount of
industry, trade unions etc. Thus unemployed youth in these areas and some
industrial workers are being drawn to the LWE ideology - all these developments
portend many future problems arising for the Indian state.

To merely attribute the spread of LWE in the backward regions of the country to
exclusively socio-economic factors will be rather simplistic. Currently, the Maoists-
Naxals have explicitly refused any peace parleys with the government and are
indulging in the worst forms of violence not only against the police forces but also
against innocent civilians and lower level state government functionaries. Thus the
first priority of the state should be to take head-on these violent cadres of the
Naxals-Maoists, eliminate/capture as many as possible without causing any heavy
collateral damage to own civilians, villagers and also those among these extremists
who wish to surrender to the state. The stated policy of Clear, Hold and Build is
eminently workable provided there is synergy in the will and action between the
political and security elements of the nation at the state and central government
levels, and, importantly among the contiguous states where Maoists generally
escape to after committing their gruesome acts.

Efforts to sharpen our intelligence capabilities at the grassroots level in the LWE
infested areas should be undertaken. Though it is the stated policy of the
government not to employ the Army against own civilians, however, based on hard
intelligence, small detachments of Special Forces could be used for executing
lightning raids on the LWE leadership, in conjunction with employing helicopters and
drones of the Air Force. Besides, the Indian Army should undertake training of CPOs
and state police personnel in special operations tasks including in fighting through
ambushes, night and stealth ops, bomb diffusing and IED neutralization missions.

The J&K Impasse

A major security challenge for the Indian establishment - with both distinct external
and internal dimensions - is Indias eminently strategic state of J&K. Since J&Ks
tumultuous accession to the Union of India in Oct 1947, the states relationship with
its parent nation has been a roller coaster ride. Pakistans mischief in this state,
continuing to date, resulting in four wars with India has shown to Pakistan that it
cannot wrest J&K by force. Thus it crafted a well conceived strategy to destabilize
India by fomenting terror, fanning separatism within the state and indulging in
regular cease fire violations along the line of control and the international border .
Bleeding India by a thousand cuts, whose initiator was Gen Zia-ul-Haq, has
metamorphosed as the stated Pak strategy.

Emotional integration of the people of the Kashmir Valley, especially the youth
(distinct to population in the Jammu, Ladakh regions and Muslims other than
Sunnis) with its parent nation constitutes a serious challenge. The current unrest in
the Valley in which hundreds of youth including, regrettably, school children have
been motivated to join the stone-pelters is a serious set-back to normalcy in the
Valley. That the separatist leaders in the Hurriyat, on express orders from their
masters in the Pakistani establishment, are spreading hate-India fervour amongst
the Kashmiri youth needs to be tackled with firmness. These Hurriyat leaders must
be arrested, as per the law, for their seditious activities and jailed outside the state.
Comfortable house-arrests in Srinagar hardly deter them from their anti-national
activities. The government must not allow them ever to meet their handlers in the
Pak High Commission in New Delhi from where they get their instructions and
financial doles. The security establishment in J&K must keep strict vigilance on the
activities of all separatists and their Pak and ISIS flag waving cadres. As we permit
democratic forms of dissent in the Valley, seditious activities have to be put down
with an iron hand. The unique and first ever experiment of totally disparate parties,
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state
coalition government, must be made to succeed in the larger interests of the state
and the nation. If Mehbooba Muftis government fails to arrest the deteriorating law
and order situation in J&K, imposing Presidents Rule for 6 months at least is the
answer - sooner the better.

It must be unequivocally conveyed to Pakistan that J&K is an internal matter for

India and the only issue left over by the baggage of history is the re-integration of
POK/Gilgit Baltistan into J&K. India must talk to the Kashmiri awam ( less the hard
core Hurriyat leaders) and try and convince them that their future and Sufi lineage is
safe within the inclusiveness of the Indian Union and not in a terror and radicalised
state like Pakistan. We may also remember that in the past, whenever some
Kashmiri separatist leaders have spoken of peace and moderation, they have been
eliminated by Paks notorious ISI. The current state in the Kashmir Valley being
rather grim requires the personal attention of PM Modi. An amalgam of firmness in
re-establishing normalcy , followed by a healing touch with genuine and generous
economic development packages for the state in the long run is the only answer.
Meanwhile, our intelligence agencies must keep an eye on the increasing number of
Wahabi oriented madrassas whose numbers are growing in the Valley fuelled by
Saudi funds. India needs to send moderate Islamic leaders/ulemas to the Valley to
pacify and put Kashmiri youth on the right track before Salafi radicalism overwhelms
them.

The North East Conundrum

Often dubbed as a distant frontier, NE Indias psychological proximity to the parent
nation has not diminished as much as it should have since 1947. NE India is the only
expanse in South Asia which is geographically and strategically encircled by Nepal,
China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. It is connected to the Indian hinterland by
a narrow piece of land, namely the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal. The NE states
account for 7.9 percent of the nations geographical area but only 3.8 percent of the
national population. Close to 70 percent of this population resides in its largest
state, Assam and the Brahmaputra Valley while the rest is in the other six states.
This region has over 160 scheduled tribes and over 400 other tribal/sub tribal
communities and groups with predominantly a rural economy.

Though most Indians, including of the establishment, refer by and large collectively
to the seven states of the NE, it must be borne in mind that each of the states is
different from each other with diversity not only in its ethnicity but security
dynamics. Importantly, it is vital for the Indian state to introspect as to why, even
after 60 years of prolonged efforts by New Delhi, conflict resolution has not been
successful in this region except in Mizoram. Most NE scholars and security analysts
opine that this strategic region suffers from a variety of deficits. These are a basic
needs deficit, an infrastructure deficit, a resources deficit, a governance deficit and,
importantly, a deficit of understanding between the region and the rest of the
nation.

This region is ideal as a land bridge to the East Asian nations with immense yet
untapped, economic potential. Notwithstanding being land, resource and water
surplus, this region remains largely under-developed in spite of the fact that overall
militancy has markedly declined in the region, though Assam, Nagaland and Manipur
still remain of security concern. Another factor which plagues the return of normalcy
to the region is the ongoing and formidable nexus between many insurgent groups
and the drug mafias. In addition, Chinas invisible presence and its linkages to some
anti India insurgent groups, both in Nagaland (the NSCN-Khaplang faction) and
Manipur also have contributed to political instability in the region.

Economic growth, effective and corrupt free governance and the restoration of law
and order will go a long way in making Indias NE states grow to their full potential
and bringing them fully into the national mainstream. As peace-talks and cease-fire
agreements are negotiated by the Centre with various warring tribes from time to
time, Indian Army, Assam Rifles and the local police must not dilute their counter-
insurgency operations and further augment their intelligence capacity building in the
entire NE region. The security forces must ensure that in the conduct of their
missions, there is zero-tolerance by them as regards human rights violations are
concerned. The Indian Army has always taken admirable care in this regard.

The youth of this region are uncommonly talented, physically robust and highly
motivated and the Centre must reach out to them with commitment and sensitivity -
both the region and the nation will benefit. In addition, as India now Acts East, this
regions economic development and Indias foreign policy engagements with the
neighbourhood nations, in synergy, can prove substantially beneficial. Overall, the
Centre must take determined out-of-the box political initiatives which go to address
the many underlying socio-economic causes of our NE. We must open up sensitive
channels of communication with the various insurgent groups to reach mutually
agreeable solutions. With a friendly regime in Bangladesh, India must take
advantage of the generally secure environment which prevails in the NE.

Conclusion: Intolerance and Communalism

A nation like India, with its immense diversity, as stated above in the introductory
remarks of this article, is virtually a tinder-box waiting to be ignited if certain socio-
economic-political imperatives are not fulfilled by either governments or society.
Thus ethno-religious-ideological fault lines, which exist in India, have to be managed
with a sense of fairness and balance for all sections of Indian society. Rough-riding
the way of life of minorities leads to more alienation and consequently, more
security problems for the nation. Indian leaders, of all political hues, must never lose
sight of this vital cardinal and not only profess but practice inclusiveness and
secularism. The Idea of India and its promise must never be sacrificed at the altar of
sectarianism and for reaping electoral benefits. Indias internal security conflicts, of
all shades, demands that.

By any benchmark, India today stands at the cusp of becoming a reckonable global
power. Let us not miss the India moment. Let us, embellished by enlightened
leadership, synergy amongst all institutions and the people, and propelled by
determined implementation, re-energize the India Story as never before.