Guest Column | Powerful Punch

Lt Gen. Vinod Bhatia (retd)

‘When India conducted surgical strikes, the world experienced our power and realised that India practices restraint but can show power when needed’

- Prime Minister Modi in Washington, 26 June 2017

The overhyped and politicised September 2016 surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) continue to trigger an unprecedented interest and imagination of the Indian people. Without a doubt it was one of its kind, a strategic signal to Pakistan that India had exhausted its patience and was prepared to raise the costs for Pakistan’s three-decade-old ‘low cost high effect proxy war’ demonstrating a strategic resolve to fight terror. However, an excess of everything is bad or say counterproductive, as seems to be in the case of the surgical strikes.

Continuing to cash in on the success of the surgical strikes, reportedly the government is now planning to raise a Special Forces unit especially for this task to be known as ‘Surgical Strike’ unit comprising the best soldiers recruited from the three branches of the armed forces. According to an NDTV report, this unit will undertake surprise attacks deep inside enemy territory with precision, inflicting maximum damage and leaving the battle area in the shortest time. The strategy will be more lethal than the cross-border strike carried out by the country’s Special Forces in September 2016 as the government plans to use the air force in future operations.

“The government feels the need for a special group with enhanced skills, so a unit having the best officers from all the three branches of the armed forces is being planned,” the report mentioned, adding that, this is a pet project of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The new commando group will have soldiers from Garuds, MARCOS and PARAS — the special forces of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Navy and Army respectively. Their skills must be at par with the US Navy Seals as they are required to manoeuvre in different terrains. It was the Navy Seals (Seal Team Six) which eliminated Osama bin Laden in May 2011 in a near flawless Operation Geronimo executed deep inside Pakistan at Attobabad.

Indian Army’s Elite 9 Para Commandos – © wikipedia-Panky2sharma

The key question which needs discussion and deliberations is — Are the Special Operational Forces (SOF) optimally structured and equipped to effectively contribute to the changing nature of future warfare and the emerging security challenges in the Indian context? Are we as a nation, and the armed forces, only factoring in the ‘one-time success story’ of the surgical strikes or are we preparing our SOF as a force multiplier, a game changer and a critical component of ensuring ‘Low Cost, High Risk and Effect’ instrument of national security?

Indian SOF are one of the most battle-hardened, combat rich force in the world known for successful conduct of operations whenever and wherever tasked, despite certain infirmities in the structures and lack of requisite wherewithal. The SOF should be mandated, structured, organised, equipped, manned, trained and located to be the first and possibly the final responders in an emerging security criticality impacting national security or national interests and assets.

The recently released 13-page Land Warfare Doctrine amplifies the SOF employment. According to the document, “Special Forces shall be equipped, structured and trained to ensure their application in multiple employment opportunities for exponential gains, to achieve our military objectives. Their equipment profiling, standards of training and employment strategies must form a vital component of our overall deterrence capability, both in unconventional/ conventional domains.”

It further states that “India’s role as a regional security provider mandates a force projection capability to further our national security objectives. A Rapid Reaction Force comprising Integrated Battle Groups with strategic lift and amphibious capability will be an imperative for force projection operations.”

However, there appears obvious contradictions in the signals emanating from the armed forces and the ministry of defence (MoD) on the proposed restructuring of the SOF, with the latter biased towards raising a Special Force Division capable of effectively executing more surgical strikes and the armed forces wanting a 360 degree focus on structuring and employment of Special Forces in critical missions at the strategic-operational levels of war prevention and warfighting.

The Land Warfare Doctrine simply but logically highlights the security environment, concerns and the nature of future wars. India’s security concerns are impacted by a dynamic global and regional security environment. As India transforms from an emerging and rising power to a risen responsible power, it will need credible military capabilities to project military power, assist Friendly Foreign Countries (FFC) in times of crisis from unconventional threats and Humani