Call Army as last resort

Mar 14, 2016, 

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/call-army-as-last-resort/208365.html

Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

Calling in the Army to restore law and order by ignoring time-tested protocol does not have a salutary effect, as seen in the recent Jat violence in Haryana. The presence of placard-carrying soldiers failed to act as a deterrent and to curb arson and vandalism.

The Army was called in by the civil administration to quell the Jat protests in Haryana. It must be given a free hand to restore law and order. AFP

The Army is called in to aid the civil administration to cope with natural disasters or maintain law and order. Although the civil administration has adequate resources to cope with such contingencies, yet more often than not it sends out a call for help to the Army. The civil administration and the police are low on organisational skills, discipline and leadership. Often on such occasions, the civil administration just disappears from the scene as was seen during the recent floods in Uttarakhand and now during the Jat stir in Haryana. 

To maintain law and order and control the crowd, there are more than adequate state and central police forces. They are suitably armed to control unruly mobs and rioters. On their own they are in a position to handle riots and other cases of breakdown of law and order. At the drop of a hat, a call is made to the Army, as it happened in Haryana. 

Earlier, to discourage the civil administration from making frivolous calls for the Army's assistance, a certificate from the civil administration was required along with requisition of military help, stating that it has deployed all of its resources and the situation is well outside its control and, therefore, the Army’s help is being sought. This served a dual purpose: The civil administration made a genuine effort to control the situation and it indicated that it was truly grave, demanding deployment of the Army. Consequently, it also justified the military's firm action against rioters to restore order. In the case of subsequent court cases, it was possible for the military to justify its stern action.

Under normal circumstances, a magistrate who gives written orders for the military to open fire on rampaging mobs is required to accompany a military column. The Army first makes an announcement through the public-address system to warn the crowd and ask it to disperse. If that goes unheeded, it may open fire adhering to the need for minimum force and fire to incapacitate and not kill. 

Very often, it is not possible to have a magistrate with each and every column, more so when there are wide-scale disturbances across the state, as was the case in Haryana. There was large-scale rioting, torching of government and private properties and looting of shops and assaults on certain sections of society. In such a situation, the officer commanding the concerned column has to act on his own. Where casualties amongst rioters take place, more often than not, long legal battles ensue and the Army is called upon to justify its action. Very often its presence has the necessary salutary effect on the crowd and the task at hand is accomplished. A range of central police organisations, against the prevalent laws, have adopted the Army’s uniform, badges of ranks and other paraphernalia, making it difficult for the common man to distinguish the police from the Army. 

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been complicit on this issue. Consequently, the all-important salutary effect of the Army's presence on such occasions has been lost. Therefore, one saw the sad spectacle of military columns carrying placards stating that it is a military column carrying out flag marches. 

In law and order cases, it is most important to handle the situation firmly in the early stages, if not pre-empt it altogether. In event of large-scale rioting, spread over vast areas, firm action at one place has the desired effect at other locations as well. It instills fear and caution in the rioters. 

On the face of it, the very fact that the military has been called in, implies that the civil administration has exhausted all of its resources. Therefore, for the Army to effectively control such an adverse situation, it must have a free hand and, consequently, the authority to use force at its own reckoning, with little legal binding. This calls for amending the relevant laws. A desperate situation, as obtaining in Haryana, calls for extraordinary measures. The situation was most ineptly handled and allowed to get out of hand. It was an obvious case of breakdown of administration and police failure as the rampaging mobs were allowed a free run. 

There are adequate police resources within Haryana to have effectively dealt with the developing situation. The police was nowhere to be seen as rioters indulged in arson, torching of cars and buses, looted a large number of shops in many towns. Some of them were already armed with weapons. The Ministry of Home Affairs has a large body of central police organisations. It should have made these available to Haryana. There was no need to seek the Army's help. Since the military is called only as a last resort, it must act firmly and restore order. If it fails to control the situation, then what will follow will be anarchy and the state can only wither away. During the current disturbances in Haryana, the Army's deployment did not have the desired effect and the arson and rioting continued because of alleged caution and restrictions on use of force imposed on it. Else it is difficult to explain the Army's inability to control the situation early enough. It was a replay of the riots in Delhi in 1984 on a smaller scale. Then too the military was instructed not to open fire on the rioters and the mayhem continued for many days. In Haryana, the situation improved only when the state government announced its willingness to consider rioters' demand for reservation for Jats in government jobs. 

The issue of reservation for Jats in the OBC quota has been grossly mishandled. Little heed has been paid to the Supreme Court ruling in this case. Conceding the demands of Jats is bound to trigger a chain reaction. Similar demands will surface from many other communities across the country. Mobs indulging in arson, looting and rioting were essentially made up of young men and boys. They are part of the millions who are uneducated, half educated, without skills and frustrated because there are no jobs for them. India's young demographic dividend is in millions and poses a serious threat to peace. 

The country has failed to provide education and skills to this multitude and create job opportunities for them. The growth of population has gone unchecked, without an effort to educate masses on the advantages of small families. We need to provide jobs to a million young men every month and that appears to be beyond our capacity. In Haryana, perhaps coming events have cast a shadow.

Given the spectre of lawlessness and ineffective administration, who would want to invest in Haryana? Surely, events in Haryana will impact foreign investment in India on and adversely impact the Make-in-India drive. An inquiry by a retired police officer may not bring to light cases of dereliction of duty at various levels and uncover attempts at a cover-up. An inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court is required to enable facts to be brought to light and ensure remedial steps for the future.

The writer, a retired Major-General, is a defence analyst.