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Did Army let down Assam when it was needed most?

arp2041

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Top generals of the Indian Army appear to have failed Assam - the state which Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh represents in Parliament.

On July 19 the first reports of communal violence in lower Assam emerged. A day later, four former Bodo Liberation Tigers men were murdered.

From there on, the ethnic clashes between the indigenous Bodos and Bengali Muslims raged out of control. Entire villages were set on fire, thousands were left homeless everyday. But the Indian Army - which remains the most secular institution of the country - seems to have squandered time waiting for clearances.


The government of Assam requested the Indian Army for help on July 23. The first request was made by the local administration of Kokrajhar for help. However, it was only two days later that the first Army columns rolled out.

The Indian armed forces are legally required to assist the government in emergencies.

State governments seek the help of the Indian armed forces in three broad categories - to help restore law and order, to maintain essential services during strikes or crisis, and to provide assistance during natural disasters like earthquakes or floods. In all these cases, the armed forces do not need prior permission and clearances from the Ministry of Defence if a state government asks for help.

Yet, the Army consulted the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on whether it should carry out flag marches - a critical exercise where soldiers march through a town to convey the Army is present and vigilant to counter any major danger to residents.

As the riots worsened the Tejpur-based 4-corps and Army formations under it in Chirang, Gaolapara, Kokrajhar districts - the epicentre of the violence - were documenting and reporting the escalating emergency to senior officers.

What is perhaps more sad is that unlike Central Para-military forces who had to be rushed to different states by road and air, the Army is already deployed in Assam. All that it had to do was change the deployment from a counter-insurgency posture to law and order mode.

Sources tell NDTV that the Army initially conveyed to the Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs that it shouldn't be involved in managing the crisis since the developing situation was "communal" in nature. It was only after much back and forth, a second request from the Assam government on July 24 and then an official letter from the Chief Secretary of Assam that got the Army to finally move.

Sources told NDTV that the Army is reluctant to intervene in a communal conflict since some of its units rebelled after the Golden Temple was stormed in 1984. Also, NDTV was told by a senior Army source that "if each and every request of the civilian government is accepted, there won't be end to any Army deployments." As a convention, therefore, the Indian Army acts only when the request is made by certain level of officer - preferable by the Chief Secretary of state - and is cleared by the Ministry of Defence.

Did Army let down Assam when it was needed most? | NDTV.com
 
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Army did the right thing...handling riot isn't their job...its job of police and paramilitary forces..because if a single person killed by Army,Human Rights activists(who only wants to find a flaw) will claim it a "Massacre by trigger happy Army"..its better if this is handled by Assam Rifles and State Police..
 
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The question should be ---- Why does the nation let down the Indian Army every time ??? Why does the army have to do the civilian administrations job and then be pulled up by the same incompetent and corrupt government for the sake of the sake of vote bank politics???
 
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They let the poor chaps die , they could have made the place emergency immediately when the riots started . They are very much irresponsible .
 
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They let the poor chaps die , they could have made the place emergency immediately when the riots started . They are very much irresponsible .
The central govt cant impose emergency at will anymore, this is not 70s.
 
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The central govt cant impose emergency at will anymore, this is not 70s.
You let many people die but dont impose emergency ? You can extend patil for few weeks then lift emergency and say its patils mistake . That will be good for your govt too .
 
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You let many people die but dont impose emergency ? You can extend patil for few weeks then lift emergency and say its patils mistake . That will be good for your govt too .
Thats not how things work in India. Who is patil? lol
 
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They let the poor chaps die , they could have made the place emergency immediately when the riots started . They are very much irresponsible .

Not at all.
Army has no right to interfere in civil areas unless specifically requested to by the civil govt.
Any action by the army would have not only been illegal but would also have set a bad precedent.
 
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They let the poor chaps die , they could have made the place emergency immediately when the riots started . They are very much irresponsible .

Who is ' they' ? .. and who is Patil ?

Are you an Indian ? You dont seem to be aware of processes
 
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You let many people die but dont impose emergency ? You can extend patil for few weeks then lift emergency and say its patils mistake . That will be good for your govt too .

this is not China..we don't declare emergency until badly needed..
 
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In my opinion the bigger culprit is BSF.
Is no secret that BSF jawans let these people come in in exchange of petty bribes like pressure cookers, dinner sets etc.
Once BSF fails to do it duty, then comes the responsibility of the local administration to not let the illegals settle their colonies.

In our country everything is upside down. BSF which is responsible to guard the border, let them come for bribe, those who are shot/beaten are actually those who fail to give the bribe.
Then the local administration let them settle their colonies and then the likes of congress award these same people with Indian citizenship.
We got no one to blame but our own incompetency.

Thats not how things work in India. Who is patil? lol

He is talking about the extension of Pratibha Patil.
 
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You let many people die but dont impose emergency ? You can extend patil for few weeks then lift emergency and say its patils mistake . That will be good for your govt too .

Hey Buster, what is this "You let many people die", "you can extend patil", "good for your govt too" cr@p?
Ah, but you are from Hyderabad, Guandong Province, PRC are'nt you ? LOL.

On topic now: this is a business for the Assam Govt. to handle. If its Citizen s are determined to kill each other, then they have to act to put an end to it. They ought to have known that it was coming. The Bodos are extremely determined to drive the illegal migrants out. The Assam Govt. has to take a call on how to handle it.

Its just not the Army's primary responsibility.
 
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I see the argument made but I would also dispute the claims. The IA is NOT a law enforcement agency, they are deployed in NE purely in a CI role and are trained, equipped and geared towards purely CI ops. Hence it would not be under their remit to be controlling riots- a task they are most likely not even remotely trained or equipped for. This task falls to local police units and CAPFs who ARE trained and equipped for such duties but if they are unable to control the situation it can't be the IA who steps in every time to save the day. It would arguably be more UNSAFE to both the civilians and army personnel to deploy them in a law enforcement role because, unlike the police and CAPFs who are equipped with non-lethal weapons, the IA soldiers (who,to reiterate, are conducting CI ops) are equipped with only lethal weapons to fight insurgents and as such their only real response to a situation where they feel they themselves are threatened or anyone else would be deadly force.


There are units euipped and trained to be fast reaction units to such events, in fact isn't that entirely the idea behind the CRPF's RAF??

It seems pretty obvious to me, which force is more approtate to call in for such ops:

CRPF RAF:

har2.jpg


2.jpg


IA:

india-army_2179188b.jpg


Bofors.jpg



A little exaggerated but you get my point.
 
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We need joint action of all available forces to root out Maoists, Assam rioters, illegal immigrants etc. Just get rid of them, one campaign for couple of years. We will deal later with Human Rights. Why should India care of HR when no other country does, US, USSR, China, no one did....why should we be a good nation when we are under so much turmoil.

Follow China, crush all anti-India factions. We need some one like Sardar Patel.
 
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