Insurgencies and counter-insurgencies in South Asia

Yuba Nath Lamsal

South Asia is a region of both insurgencies and counter insurgencies. All South Asian states tend to equate insurgency with terrorism. Their definition of insurgency is to justify their counter-insurgency. The states define insurgency as terrorism and counter-insurgency as their campaign to protect the life and property of the people. However, not all insurgencies are terrorism. Most insurgencies are of political nature that seek to establish their rights. Reactionary and dictatorial rulers define insurgencies as the act of terrorism as a pretext to crush people’s genuine revolt through violent means. But the insurgents have their own language and words to define the insurgency and counter insurgency. According to them, insurgency is revolution to liberate people from the clutches of exploitation. But not all insurgencies are political movement or revolution.

Insurgency and counter-insurgency are two sides of a coin. When there is insurgency, there will be counter insurgency. At the same time, when there is inequality, discrimination, exploitation, injustice, suppression and denial of rights to the people, insurgency or revolt are bound to take place. That is what South Asian countries are experiencing. All south Asian countries have in a way or the other facing this problem although nature and manifestation of insurgencies vary depending on the objective reality and situation of a particular country in the region.

Insurgencies have their own logics. Insurgencies are launched by a non-state sector or by organized political or other groups. The objectives of insurgencies are different. Political organizations and parties launch insurgency for political reasons, while others have their own objective and rationale—which may or may not be vindicated. Some are really fanatic groups that are using violence and threat just to terrorize the people. These groups are purely terrorist outfits which must be condemned and countered by all means. The dictatorial states often equate political insurgencies with activities of fanatic and terrorist groups. More often than not all counter-insurgencies are waged by nation-states to subjugate minorities or marginalized communities' struggle for self-determinism and political freedom and human rights. Various clever mechanisms are being employed by the state to continue with the exercise of centralized and oppressive control. In the name of counter insurgency, many states have built up and deployed armed forces so that the interests of the rulers are served. The interests of the rulers are manifold in counter-insurgency drive. Firstly, they want to wipe out opposition and threat to their rule. Secondly, they want to reap commercial benefit by awarding lucrative contract on purchase of arms and other security related equipment. The rulers deliberately want a pretext for such commercial and political benefit for which counter insurgency is a boon. In the name of counter-insurgency, the reactionary and dictatorial regimes often resort to systematic use of violence against the local communities aiming at creating an environment of fear and facilitating subjugation and eradication of those who join the struggle for self-determination. This violence is often so selective that it targets the particular social group or minority community that has been fighting a liberation war. The Kashmiris in Jammu and Kashmir in India, Naxalites, Nagas, Mizos, Manipuris etc in India, Baluchi people in Balochistan of Pakistan, the Tamil speaking people in North and East of Sri Lanka, Nepali speaking Bhutanese mostly living in southern Bhutan are all victims of such counter-insurgencies of brutal state forces which in other words may be called as state terrorism.

If we look at the cases of individual country in the region, we find both commonality as well as stark difference in the nature and objective of insurgency. Each and every country is in turmoil due to conflict and insurgency of different nature. Only recently, the tiny atoll nation of the Maldives saw a chain of events that have far-reaching impact on this country’s political and democratic development. The democratic set up established only in 2008 saw a rollback to dictatorship because of a bloodless coup engineered by loyalists of the previous dictatorial regime. The democratically elected President of Maldives was forced to resign at gun point by the security forces. Since then protests and political conflicts are regular phenomenon. As of now, the situation in this tiny country is under control, but there are simmering grievances which may erupt into violent insurgency if the conflict and grievances are not addressed and resolved in time.

Afghanistan is currently worst hit by insurgency and wars. As a part of international war on terror, multi-national (NATO) forces are in Afghanistan which are trying to maintain peace and order in this country through the use of force. However, foreign troops and Afghanistan’s regimes have not been able to restore peace order. Incidents of attacks, fights and explosions are daily occurrences. The international troops arrived at Kabul to wipe out Taliban Islamic extremists from Afghanistan but Taliban are the major security threat not only to Afghan regime but also to the entire western world. The Taliban are definitely down but not totally out. There is a strong likelihood that once the foreign troops leave Afghanistan, Taliban may again capture power sooner or later.

Pakistan is another country that has been badly suffering from violent insurgency. Islamic militants are waging an armed insurgency against the government of Pakistan. Pakistan has been working hard to contain Islamic insurgency and terrorism but has not been fully successful in completely curbing violence in this country.

Sri Lanka has just recovered from the long civil war that was fought on ethnic line. The minority Tamils waged a deadly armed insurgency against the government dominated by Simhala majority. In some points of its insurgency, Tamils had gained upper hand. As a result, the Tamil Tigers had been dubbed as world’s deadliest fighting machine. But recently, the government has been successful in defeating and totally wiping out the Tamil separatists. The core strategy of Sri Lankan government’s counter-insurgency was an attempt to weaken the resistance by disrupting the demographic composition of the Tamil dominated areas through destroying the continuity in traditional settlements pattern. One cannot accept the objective of the Tamil insurgents as they sought a separate Tamil state out of Sri Lanka and they did not enjoy mass support, which ultimately led to their defeat. Sri Lankan government had applied brutal force, which was subject of condemnation. But the objective and modus operandi of the Tamil insurgents were more dangerous.

Bhutan is often called as a Himalayan Shangri-la. But Bhutan is no longer a Shangri-la. The Dragon kingdom is boiling from within as there are simmering differences and grievances inside Bhutan. For the last one and a half decade, people of Bhutan are seeking democracy and freedom. More than 1,00,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese were forced to flee simply because they demanded freedom of expression, democracy, religious and cultural freedom.
Although Bhutan now claims to be a democratic country, its democracy is merely cosmetic and people are yet to see real democracy. As Bhutan applied brutal force to suppress the demand of democracy, freedom, religious, ethnic and cultural rights of its people, some armed groups have reportedly been created in order to launch armed insurgency so that Bhutanese rulers would be forced to accept genuine democracy.

Nepal is yet another country that experienced height of insurgency in the past. The UCPN-Maoist launched an armed insurgency seeking to overthrow the monarchical system and establish a republic democracy. More than 13,000 people were killed in the decade-long insurgency in Nepal. Now monarchy has been abolished and federal democratic republic established in Nepal. The insurgency has now come to an end following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Treaty four years ago. But chances of revival of insurgency cannot be totally ruled out as a section of the Maoist is talking of insurgency. Moreover, the political process that is underway in Nepal has not moved ahead as it had been expected. Many ethnic and other groups have come up with their own set of demands and demanding that their concerns be addressed in the new constitution. It appears impossible to address all demands of all groups. This situation is likely to invite fresh round of conflict in Nepal.

The other country that has been facing fierce insurgency is India. Insurgencies of different kinds are taking place in India. These insurgencies are of different nature. The Maoist insurgency is principal domestic security threat. Insurgencies of different nature are taking place in Kashmir, Nagaland, Gorkhaland and north eastern part of India. Kashmiri people are fighting for the right to self-determination. Nagaland insurgency is seeking a separate Nagaland state and so are insurgencies in the north east of India. India is currently is the country of numerous insurgencies,

Insurgency is the violent expression of grievances. If the state or the government does not try to address and resolve the genuine grievances of the people politically, it may ultimately have serious repercussion on country’s unity and territorial integrity. The counter-insurgency approach that the countries of South Asia have adopted may weaken insurgency temporarily but people’s grievances would continue to grow which would be counterproductive in the long-run for country’s security and unity. Thus, effective political tools and method of negotiation are the best approach not to address the concerns of the agitating groups and forces and bring them to political mainstream. The South Asian countries are, thus, expected to apply the political method of negotiation in order to deal with insurgency that will alone ensure peace and stability in the region.