Indian Army Changes its Insurgency Doctrine
April 20, 2007 (FIDSNS)
In a significant change in the insurgency doctrine of Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army is gunning for militants who are being made commanders of a particular area. “The idea is to instill fear among the militant cadre that whosoever becomes a district commander or above will be immediately targeted,” says a senior Army official in the ministry of defence.
Around 20 terrorist commanders, of terrorist outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) have been killed since the beginning of this year. “At least 5 of them had just been made district or battalion commanders,” says the Army official.
Terrorist organisations are turning to the ‘local boys’ to make them area commanders. This is a marked shift from their earlier strategy of making foreign commanders. “The militant leadership wants to portray the insurgency in Kashmir as indigenous,” said a senior Army official.
