We need a more integrated approach towards border security and management
R.C. Sharma
The Radcliffe award, bifurcating India and Pakistan into two nations was an adversarial award executed without any application of mind, sowing seeds of discord between people at the very stage of inception. The euphoria over the birth of Bangladesh was also short-lived. The perception that the birth of Bangladesh would stabilise borders proved a myth. Bangladesh instead of acting as a stabiliser acted more as a destabiliser owing to its internal instability coupled with large-scale illegal migration affecting its demographic profile. The Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Nepal borders are considered soft borders; however, the regimen of border security takes no time in turning soft borders into adversarial ones when national interests clash. The Indo-Myanmar border is a live example of how overnight, soft borders turn into hard and hostile borders.
Borders require inclusive structured border management integrating all stakeholders to ensure effective border security. Border management is an unstructured domain where only border security is a centralised structured security domain. It is unstructured considering the unorganised community and local government participation in border management. There is a need to create a structured organisational model for community and local government participation in border management, to make them active and not reactive players. Thus, border management consists of three main stakeholders: border guarding force, border population and local administration. Like adversarial relations between counterparts on either side of a border, relations between stakeholders generally remain aloof and contentious due to conflict between local and border security needs. The adversarial relationship makes the task of border guarding forces difficult and hostile, affecting border security. Contentious stakeholder relationships coupled with hostile neighbours keeping a hawk’s eye over the nation’s vast borders, there is an urgent need for a documented border security strategy for impregnable border security. India has 15,106.7 kilometres of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 kilometres. In a clockwise circle, it is Pakistan to the west, Afghanistan to the north, China to the north and north east, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east.
What should be the border security strategy and paradigm to address border security threats? Should it be a common template for all borders or different templates for different borders? Professionally, there cannot be one template to fit all borders to address border security threats. Borders need addressing as per threat assessment. Threat assessment indicates how border management and defence need to tread on that particular border. Therefore, not all borders can be tarred with the same brush. There have to be different templates for different borders. These take into consideration adversary strengths, attitudes, habits, terrain and characteristics of the border population, the economy of the borders including employment, inflation, the infrastructure of roads, schools, hospitals, clean drinking water, connectivity and societal relations on both sides of the border based on ethnic and historical factors which play a major role and dictate the threat environment existing on a particular border. It also needs to appreciate threats from the perspective of border guards who represent national security interests. Border management analysts also need to appreciate that the threat perspective is dynamic and different for different stakeholders. All perspectives need consideration while devising border security strategies to strengthen border management.
Border guards, based on government orders, instructions and advisories frame SOPs laying broad-based procedural norms for dealing with various situations encountered in day-to-day border security. There is no documented border security doctrine/strategy. Thus there is a need for a documented border security strategy at the national level to deal with border management issues and threats. Until a national border security strategy document is prepared to encompass all borders, border guarding forces need to prepare border management strategy documents for the respective borders. This document has to be broad-based, reflecting the local population perspective, border security perspective suited for that particular border and the history of counterpart behaviour over time. From the border security strategy should flow policy, orders, instructions and SOPs to deal with procedures and dynamic border security threats. It will help strengthen the bond between border guarding forces and the border population and will positively turn an adversarial relationship non-antagonistic and hospitable, help border guards carry out their duties smoothly, enhance goodwill and strengthen border security.
To frame a realistic border security strategy document, an in-depth analysis of the border management scenario encompassing all aspects is needed. This analysis needs to encompass the economy and development of border areas, border guarding force, border population and internal and external threats affecting border management. It also needs to consider concerns of the border population, which adversely affect border security. The administrations of border districts need to get involved proactively to address civic concerns of the local population, which certainly will go into strengthening national security. This analysis also needs to take into account the counterpart and counterpart population. In the Indian context, western and eastern borders have different border management threat perspectives.
The major threat on western borders including line of control are smuggling of narcotics and arms through land and aerial routes, infiltration and subversion and subjugation the of local population using fear and indoctrination tactics. In addition, a hostile climate with extreme cold and foggy conditions and physical gaps due to natural obstacles like rivers and nullahs further aid the adversary in carrying out his agenda of undermining security. The threat on the line of control also includes the threat of change of alignment of the border through hostile occupation of unheld territory, which calls for occupation of every inch of ground physically, or through fire and observation.
The Indo-Chinese border, called line of actual control (LAC) is disputed all along with differing perceptions of the boundary line. The threat on the line of actual control is more concerned with border defence and less with border management. The threat is with conventional border defence where differing perceptions of the line of actual control call for holding every inch of ground with heavy mirror deployment to put the adversary on the defensive and put a stop to his audacious attempts to change the alignment of the border and threaten national security.
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