The recent surgical strikes by the Indian Army inside Myanmar targeting a faction of Northeast militants has not only opened up a whole new dimension for Indian security and Intelligence agencies, but for other components of the Government, including the diplomatic fraternity.
There is a growing view among top Intelligence officials that this kind of operation could not have been carried out without the understanding, tacit or otherwise, of the Government and political leadership on whose soil such operations are to be executed.
Thus there is a pressing need for India to engage more with countries, even at the diplomatic level, to carry out future surgical strikes to hit at subversive elements. As A.S. Dulat, former chief of country’s premier intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing told Deccan Chronicle: “This is a good operation. But such strikes cannot be carried out without taking the Government and the political leadership of that particular country into confidence, or else it will amount to a hostile attack. So it is a good opportunity for our Government to engage more with countries from where Indian terror groups are operating.”
Mr Dulat was also of the opinion that co-operation between two countries can “work wonders” for such security operations. “It is not about carrying out operations in a big or small country but at some level there has to be an understanding between the two Governments and in the long term this can work wonders and help improve the over all security situation,” the former R&AW boss added. Another former senior R&AW official emphasised that even for carrying out a covert operation there is a need for tacit understanding between security agencies of two countries. Even serving senior officials in the country’s top security and Intelligence agencies agree that it will not be easy to replicate the Myanmar operation with another country.
Thus this practically puts to rest any possibility that Indian Special Forces may target terror camps operating in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir despite clinching evidence available with Indian agencies of camps that operate from these areas. As a senior Intelligence official, who was involved in the Myanmar operation said, “We cannot compare the situation with Myanmar with what is happening along the Indo-Pak border in the Kashmir Valley. It will be virtually impossible for us to conduct this kind of operation in Pakistan.”
Mr Dulat too agreed with this assessment saying it may be difficult to execute such surgical strikes with Pakistan. “We know what kind of relations the Pakistan establishment has with us, so I don’t think it may be possible to launch this sort of operation there,” he added.
But there is a unanimous view in New Delhi’s security and intelligence establishment that the Myanmar operation has sent out a strong message to militant groups operating in the Northeast and it will also have a cascading impact on militant groups in the Kashmir Valley also.
