© Rediff.Com - 21 February 2000 |
|||
|
|||
Battalions which are inducted into any of the "seven sisters" - the north-east states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura - are trained here in the special requirements for countering insurgency (CI) in the area. More interestingly, selected officers, JCOs and NCOs, no matter where their posting, as well as men of the CRPF, BSF and Assam Rifles, besides "students" from foreign countries, are enrolled for an extensive course in basic as well as NE-Specific CI operations. |
|||
|
|||
Sure that we were being rebuffed, we became Ophelia, and brightened only after a CIJWS officer exclaimed, "How did you hear about the school? Hardly anyone in the army itself knows of us!" He immediately launched into we-are-completely-transparent-nothing-is-classified blah blah, but the point is, training in CI ops hinges on research, analysis, strategy and tactics. And therein lies the sensitive nature of this lean & mean institution. In 1967, Field Marshal SHFJ Manikshaw, then GOC Eastern Command, realised that the heavy casualties suffered by the security forces at the hands of insurgents in Nagaland and Mizoram were due to the lack of understanding - climatic, geographical and psychological - of the region and its peoples. |
|||
|
|||
But in 1972, the school reverted to its basic role of education. Bunkum. Today, instructors and trainees undertake CI ops and low intensity combat as & when required. Only, they call it "practicals." This makes CIJWS a "semi-field" area: not at the battle front, but not away, either. Frankly, we were torn between giving you hard information about the school and being our usual giddy-headed self. We finally opted for the latter because any dolt can compile and relay data, and we are the monet of painting impressions...Readers who squinted through our Y2K-on-LC series will be pleased to find that this article is be-Jewella-ed. The sainted editor believes we wanted to spare you the pain of deciphering our photographs; we merely needed someone to hold our sceptre when we doodled. |
|||
|
|||
Therefore, the first lesson we learnt from this adventure is: it's the negligence of the rest of India that has augmented, if not created, the unrest in the NE. Everything you know or want to know about insurgency is that of Kashmir's. But the trouble brewing incessantly in the NE is somehow not of much interest to us. We quickly turn the page after scanning headers spelling death datelined Dimapur. It's all so geographically far away from Chandigarh, Cochin or Chennai. Question is, why's it emotionally distant, too...? We'll get to that by and by. First, we have to tell you about our latest guardian angel, JCO Farooq Ahmed, a Kashmiri from Poonch, who received a gallantry award on January 26th for dispatching three ULFA terrorists during a midnight encounter in Nalbari. The story is thrillingly gory but, sorry, we can't tell you because Chindu & Co will pounce on us. Point is, the men selected for CIJWS are those who fulfill certain qualitative requirements... |
|||
|
|||
All of Mizoram is uniformly hilly; meaning, inclines everywhere; meaning, steep steps to navigate between one cabin and another. Meaning, not a single room did we enter without panting and sweating. And so we gasped to Colonel Sharma (Officer General Staff, a dear man known throughout as GS), to be vetted before meeting the commandant. Oooh and what a specimen of dignity he turned out to be! We simply stared at this gracefully graying Sardar while we got a briefing on...GEOGRAPHY. Honest! With a map and laser indicator! We now know that primary jungles are the untouched ones, secondary are cut-and-grown, with thicker undergrowth; what alluvial soil is; what the composition of the terrain of Nagaland is; the climate of Mizoram (humidity 90%, rains 8 months); the uses of bamboo; the flora, fauna, etc, etc. Oh gawwd, we were back in school... |
|||
|
|||
Perhaps the last time Indians fought as an Army in a jungle was when Sam Manekshaw commanded a Sikh company in the Burma campaign in 1942. Insurgency and demands for secession have existed in the NE since the late 1940s. Our friendly neighbours, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar, added no little fuel to the fire - nor did our goodly pinkos. All of which necessitates the CIJWS. The charter of the school is to act as a nodal agency ("look up the dictionary," was the curt clarification) for all the CI ops in the NE. Courses include language familiarisation in Nagamese, Tangkhul, Assamese, and Manipuri dialects; area-specific history, and theatre-specific training. The school has eleven firing ranges for different scenarios: quick response shooting, urban shooting & pursuit, ambush, jungle lane shooting, chance encounter, mobile firing, etc. But, what does jungle warfare entail, exactly...? |
|||
|
|||
It was, basically, drills and common-sense tips on how to survive in the jungle by studying its characteristics: Dense vegetation with limited visibility; heavy cross compartmentation; streams & rivers; heat & humidity; few roads; numerous tracks. It is in this theatre that students live and train. They have a time of their life when made to run the Mad Mathew Mile in minutes flat, and run it again if they can't - often suckling leeches during the rains. But were we interested in such huffing & puffing? Not! For no matter how crucial physical fitness is, we are a cerebral personage...We figured, if Nana Patekar was allowed to train in Belgaum as a commando for a film role, we'd be allowed to attend some classes. Our heart was set on Intelligence Collection, Covert Ops, and IED Awareness. Unfortunately, the thumb rule in military CI training is: Trust No One (unless it happens to be someone from Outlook, we suppose). So we made do with shimmying up to certain officers and wringing out we wanted, and thereby expanded other boundaries of our personality, too. It's called unconventional int collection. |
|||
|
|||
What with the internet and hi-tech communications, the nature of even rural insurgency has become very dynamic; the terrorist's modus operandi is changing everyday. Explosives may be concealed in hollow bamboos or may be solar-controlled. The molotov cocktail? We could make it in 10 minutes flat and without visiting a chemist (beware, Dilip!). The task before the army is indeed an onerous one. We were pondering this as we climbed the 43rd step towards lunch and, well, missed the 44th. It was just a 3 feet drop off the concrete, but it was onto a slope and the momentum rolled us till we hit a thorny bush. Our pride, too, came up battered blue - because it was witnessed by the ishgaadi head of the Courses Wing, Lt. Col. Harsh K. Tiwari of JAK Rifles. You see, earlier, it had been love at first word, and that was even before we learnt that the Colonel was a commando, a NSG Black Cat, and also a Sena Medal winner: He had somehow decided that we were a responsible adult - a novelty for us - and trusted us with hair-raising tales, and so of course we fell. From the steps, too. |
|||
|
|||
Next morning, we collared the commando. Reply, all interspersed with guffaws: "I didn't know I had it! One day I went to donate blood at the same hospital in which I had my stomach operation, and on the sheet I had to sign, the stupid doctor wrote 'pancreatic sarcoma.' Mujhe Rajesh Khanna ka Anand picture yaad aya. | |||
|