Internal Security

Assam is the land of Ahoms (also called Shans), who invaded and settled here in the 13th century. The land of the Ahoms thus came to be called Asama. Word Assam is the anglicised form of the word ‘Asama’.

The burnt of invasion was suffered by the original inhabitant tribes. Bodos form the most important group of this race.

Later, Ahoms were defeated by the Burmese, who entered through the eastern borders. Finally, in 1826, Assam became Britain’s protectorate under the Treaty of Yandabu, signed between Burma and Britain after the defeat of Burma in the Anglo-Burma Wars.

In Assam, there are two main issues wrt Assam. These include

1. Migration of Outsiders in Assam
2. Bodoland Issue

The first issue that we will deal wrt Assam is the issue of the migration of outsiders in Assam. This has led to agitations. The main insurgent organization involved with this issue is ULFA.

Migration of outsiders to Assam

1. Britishers developed the tea industry in Assam. They imported labour from Bihar & other Indian provinces to work in tea gardens. 
2. Assamese people living mainly in Upper Assam were not interested in expanding the cultivation in hitherto uncultivated land. Therefore, the British encouraged Bengali Muslim peasants from present Bangladesh to move into Lower Assam to put virgin land under cultivation. 
3. Later during the 1971 crisis, a large number of Bangladeshi Muslims (and Hindus) came and settled in Assam. This pattern is going on even after that. 

As a result, the Assamese people started the Socio-political movement in 1979 to evict illegal Bangladeshis. It ended in the famous Assam Accords in 1985.

Reason for Migration from Bangladesh

• Increasing pressure on land and mounting unemployment in Bangladesh due to rapid population increase. 
• Bangladeshi Hindus migrate to Assam or other parts of India due to religious persecution in Bangladesh.
• Large segments of Bangladesh’s population are uprooted by severe floods and cyclones which migrate to Assam (or other parts of India).
• Porous India-Bangladesh border also facilitates this trend.
• Economic conditions of India is relatively better than that of Bangladesh.

ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom)

• ULFA was formed in 1979 against the backdrop of the All Assam Student Union’s agitation against foreigners under the leadership of Arbinda Rajkhowa, Pradip Gogoi, Paresh Barua etc.
• They aimed to create an Independent and Socialist Assam through arms struggle. It seeks to bring back the glorious times of the Ahom kingdom. ULFA claims that Assam was never a part of India as the Treaty of Yandabu was signed between two imperial powers (i.e. Burma and Assam) without the involvement of the Assamese people. 
• It established a close relationship with organizations such as the NSCN of Nagaland and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) of Myanmar to acquire arms and train recruits. ULFA has also established links with the ISI of Pakistan. 
• It conducted several terrorist activities throughout the 1990s. Hence, it was declared a Terrorist Organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (i.e. UAPA) in 1990.
• Bangladesh has also helped cracking down on the ULFA rebels.
• In 2009, India was successful in getting the chairman of ULFA into custody
• In 2011, Tripartite Agreement was signed between the Union Government, the State of Assam and ULFA for the suspension of operations of ULFA. Currently, ULFA is divided into two factions – ULFA (PTF) and ULFA (ATF), i.e. Pro and Anti Talk Faction. ULFA (PTF) has suspended the operations and is engaged in peace talks. On the other hand, ULFA (ATF) is continuing its previous modus-operandi. 

Security Challenge

• Agitations in which public property is damaged: Government failure to respond to illegal migration leads to the uproar by Assamese and damage of public property on a large scale. 
• Illegal Voters: Most illegal Bangladeshis have their names enlisted in the voting list, thereby claiming themselves as state citizens. The immigrant population acts as a vote bank for the political parties in Assam.  
• Issue of terrorism: Pakistan’s ISI has been active in Bangladesh, supporting militant movements in Assam. Among the illegal migrants, there are also militants.

Way Out

• Diplomatic Effort: India has to make a diplomatic effort to get Bangladesh to cooperate, as illegal migration cannot be solved unless sending country cooperates.  
• Better Border Management: Fencing, construction of border roads and proper border management will make a difference
• Bar from voting rights: Illegal migrants should not be allowed to vote, which will diminish their ability to influence government decisions by being a political force.

• Bodoland is a state demanded by a tribal community called Bodos in Assam, comprising 5%-6% of the state’s population.
• National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), an ethnic insurgent organization, has been leading the charge in demand for a separate state.
• Reasons for the demand for Bodoland include 
  • Massive Illegal Immigration from Bangladesh and their inclusion in the voter’s list has turned Bodos into a minority in their land
  • Failure of The Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) due to weak administrative institutions and divisive politics

NDFB

• National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) was established as Bodo Security Force in 1986 and was later rechristened as NDFB in 1994.
• They want a sovereign state of Bodoland in the areas lying North of the Brahmaputra river in Assam.
• NDFB though claim to represent the Bodo people, in reality represent the Christian minority and not the indigenous Bodos.
• It has training camps in south Bhutan, and the Indian Security Forces, with the help of Bhutan, has launched operations to destroy these training camps.

The origin of the Jammu and Kashmir insurgency can be traced back to the partition of India when Pakistan attacked Kashmir to capture it. Since then, India and Pakistan have fought three wars on this.

Many terrorist organizations are active in Kashmir.

• JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed): Formed by Masood Azhar with the stated objective of uniting Kashmir with Pakistan. JeM was behind various terrorist activities, including the attack on Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
• HM (Hizbul Mujahideen)
• HuM (Harkat-ul-Mujahideen) 
• LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba)

The unrest in Kashmir is not a new incident. The Valley has been the victim of such violence for many years. It started in 1947 with the State’s accession to India but worsened at the end of the 1980s (1988)  with the rise in the militant insurgency. Reasons are

• Geographical: The presence of an envious neighbour in the form of Pakistan, which incites the sentiments of the Kashmiri people.
• Historical background: The demand for a plebiscite has been there since 1947, which the people feel is their legal right as per the instrument of accession. However, due to the actions of Pakistan and changed conditions since 1950, a plebiscite cannot be performed in the Valley. It has enraged generations of Kashmiri people.  
• Economic reasons 
  • Unemployment is a significant reason for youth frustration. Tourism has been down due to the disturbed security situation. 
  • Kashmir has limited industries and enterprises. Due to harsh weather conditions, there are limited days of productive work.
• Mujahideen Infiltration: After the victory over the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, Mujahideen fighters, with the aid of Pakistan, slowly infiltrated Kashmir to spread a radical Islamist ideology. 
• Political Reasons : 
  • Perceptions of the domination of politics in the State by one or two families (i.e. Abdullahs and Muftis) 
  • The immediate reason was the widely perceived rigging of state elections in 1987. 
  • Laws like AFSPA, regular curfews, presence of armed forces, allegations of human rights violations
  • Use of pellet guns on the protestors, including children. 
• Weakening of Decentralization: History shows that Pakistan has tried to foster an anti-India jihad in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 but without much success until the late 1980s. In the 1980s, they succeeded because, till that time, Article 370 of the Constitution had been rendered a dead letter.  
• Social Cause/Wahhabization of Kashmiris: Increasing radicalization has choked the more tolerant Sufi tradition and introduced a new Wahhabi culture in the Valley.
• New Generation raised in troubled times: The present generation of Kashmir was raised during troubled times that started in the 1990s. Hence, they feel alienated from the political establishment.
• Social Media: The new generation having access to the internet has been radicalized by anti-India propaganda spread on the internet. Messaging apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp have helped the militants to mobilize the crowds and indulge them in stone-pelting incidents. 
• “Doval Doctrine” which posits that under no circumstance should the State be seen as yielding, either tangibly or symbolically

• Terrorism has no globally accepted definition because one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Palestinian militants call Israel terrorists, Kurdish militants call Turkey terrorists, and the nation-states call the militants who oppose their regimes “terrorists.”
• In general terms, terrorism is any violent activity done by a non-state actor against common people or their property for political purposes.
• The motivation behind terrorist acts can be political, ideological or religious. 
• What do Terrorists try to achieve through such activities?
  1. Revenge: Eg – Bombay blasts in revenge for Ayodhya Mosque demolition
  2. To invoke a reaction.
  3. To become famous.

• Terrorism is always associated with violent activities. 
• It operates on the principle of instilling fear in the minds of people.
• It is always driven by a certain ideology.
• Their motivation includes revenge, anger, jihad, self-righteousness and exclusiveness. 
• They use public statements for propaganda, justification and branding.

• One of the significant challenges in combating terrorism is there is no internationally accepted definition of Terrorism. 
• To fill this lacuna, CCIT was drafted by India in 1996.
• It includes the following major objectives:
  1.  To have a universal definition of terrorism that all 193 members of the UNGA will adopt into their criminal law.
  2. To ban all terror groups and shut down terror camps.
  3. To prosecute all terrorists under special laws.
  4. To make cross-border terrorism an extraditable offence worldwide. 

Challenges

It is yet to be adopted by the UN General Assembly because of various challenges. These challenges include 

• Difference in threat perception: E.g., Hezbollah is considered a threat by Israel and Saudis but not by Iran, who considers them Freedom fighters. Similar is the case with many other organizations like East Turkestan Movement, Lashkar etc.
• Some states (like Pakistan) use terrorism as state policy and will not allow this.
• Other problems 
  • US: Concerned that its armed interventions without a UN mandate can declare its soldiers terrorist.
  • OIC: Concerned that it will undermine groups fighting for self-determination of Palestine and Kashmir and declare them terrorists.

• Insurgency is the struggle between a non-ruling group and the ruling group, where the non-ruling group uses political resources and violence. Insurgency aims to gain enough strength to have a regular army strong enough to conquer the ruling group. 

• Although Insurgency and Terrorism are used interchangeably, there are differences 
  • Insurgents usually target only combatants and not non-combatants. Terrorists deliberately target combatants as well as non-combatants. 
  • Insurgents seek territorial control by establishing “liberated areas”. Terrorists do not seek territorial control. 
  • Insurgents try to create the paraphernalia of a seeming State in the areas controlled while Terrorists don’t. 
  • Insurgent work quite visibly on a regular basis. Terrorist does not let their presence be felt in their area of operation.

• Examples of Insurgency 
  • Purely insurgent groups. E.g., North-East Insurgent Groups, Irish Republican Army (in the UK) and Euskadi ta Askatasuna (fighting for freedom of Basque in Spain).
  • Purely terrorist groups. E.g., Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
  • Mix of the two. E.g., Maoists and LTTE (which fought a war against Sri Lankan armed forces from the 80s till the 2009 war for the formation of Tamil State in Sri Lanka)

Terrorism is the outcome of various reasons including

Ethno-nationalism

• They are a group of people who desire to break away from the union government and form a terrorist group to achieve this objective.
• For example Kashmiri Terrorist Groups, Khalistani groups, Naga Insurgents etc. 

Feeling of alienation and discrimination

• Discrimination of a particular group (ethnic or religious) can lead that group to take up arms and indulge in terrorist activities.
• For example 
  1. Rohingya National Army in Myanmar due to discrimination of Rohingyas by Buddhists.
  2. LTTE in Sri Lanka where Tamils revolted against the majority Sinhalese.
  3. Muslims in European countries like France and UK, where such social misfits frequently resort to Lone Wolf Attacks

Religion

• Religion is the major cause of terrorism. However, any religion doesn’t preach terrorism per se. But some spiritual leaders do preach this.
• For example 
  1. Global Salafi and Wahabi ideologies preached by Saudi-backed spiritual leaders  
  2. Myanmar’s Buddhist Monk named Ashin Wirathu started Islamophobic 969 movement, which led to riots against Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state
  3. Khalistani movement and organizations like Babar Khalsa aim to create Sikh majority nation-state
  4. Hindu fundamentalist/terrorists carried out incidents like the burning alive of an Australian Christian missionary and his children in 1999, the Samjhauta Express bombings of 2007, the Ajmer Dargah attack of 2007, the Malegaon blasts of 2008 and the Mecca Masjid bombing of 2007.

Unequal distribution of resources

• Unequal distribution of resources is the main cause behind Left Wing Terrorism. 
• For this reason, followers of Karl Marx, Lenin and Mao, popularly known as Naxalites in India, frequently take up arms against the state.

Regional disparities

• Neglect of a particular region and use of its resources for the development of metropole can lead locals to take up arms to attack the state, and its machinery in the region, often creating their own structure of bureaucracy. 
• E.g., Various terrorist organizations in the North East such as NSCN (Nagaland), Mizo National Front (Mizoram) etc.

Unemployment

• In the absence of jobs, unemployed youth frequently take up arms. 

Envious and jealous neighbours

• India has envious neighbours in the form of Pakistan and China, which are ever ready to foment disturbances in India.
• China funds and supports the Maoists and various insurgent groups active in the North-East. Along with that, it frequently stops India’s attempts to designate individuals involved in planning and orchestrating acts of terror in India, such as Masood Azhar, as a global terrorist under the UNSC Resolution.
• How Pakistan use terrorism as state policy is dealt with in detail below. 

Deep State in Pakistan has nurtured Islamic Radical Groups (Mujahideen) as strategic assets to be used against its adversaries (especially India). This strategy has been increasingly adopted after the success of US-funded Mujahideen in Afghanistan against the USSR in the late 1980s.

Timeline

1970-80

After failing in two conventional wars, Pakistan adopted the path of sub-conventional/proxy war with the motto of ‘bleeding India with a thousand cuts‘. Hence, they started to fund various local insurgent groups to strengthen the secessionist demand of different groups in India.

1980-90

• Support and Fund Punjab Insurgency: In the 1980s, they started to fund the Khalistan movement to create a sovereign buffer state between India and Jammu & Kashmir.
• Encourage terrorism in Kashmir: In the late 1980s, Pakistan started to fund and train Kashmiris to indulge in terrorism by tapping into the anti-India sentiment of the Kashmiri population. Terrorists were trained in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir and financed by the ISI and Pakistani military. 

1990-2000

After the Ayodhya incident in 1992, there was a subsequent rise in reactionary activities all over the country, providing a ripe opportunity for the ISI to further its objective of spreading terrorism and communalism in India.

2000 onwards

• The rise in reactionary right-wing extremist activities in the form of bomb blasts in Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Samjhauta express etc., allowed ISI to exploit the communal fault lines in our society and ensure that the Muslim community remains vulnerable to mobilisation, recruitment and radicalization.

1. Terrorist activities damage the life and property at the location of the attack.
2. Due to terrorist activities, consumers’ confidence dips, and the country’s economy is pushed toward recession.
3. It negatively impacts the business as commercial activities in such regions go down. 
4. Governments are forced to increase their spending in the defence sector, and as a result, social welfare spending suffers.
5. Rise of xenophobia against the community whose members indulge in terrorist activities. E.g., European Muslims face xenophobia due to Islamic terrorist groups. 
6. Survivors of terrorist attacks are forced to pass through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
7. It gives legitimacy to the government to pass Counter-terrorism legislation (like TADA and UAPA) that infringes on individual freedom and personal privacy.
8. Due to terrorism, the tourism industry suffers drastically, as seen in Kashmir valley.

1. Strengthened Legislations

NIA (Amendment) Act, 2019

• Under the amendment, the NIA is empowered to investigate offences related to 
  1. Human Trafficking
  2. Offences related to counterfeit currency  
  3. Manufacture or sale of prohibited arms
  4. Cyber-terrorism
  5. Offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908
• The NIA will have the authority to look into specified offences committed outside of India, subject to international agreements and other nations’ internal laws.
• Enables the central government to designate session courts as special courts for NIA trials.

UAPA Act

Parliament has passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 with provisions like

• Individuals can now be designated as terrorists on certain grounds (Earlier, only Organizations could be declared Terrorist Organisations).
• Empowers the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General to authorize the seizure or attachment of property while the case is under investigation.

2. Institutional framework strengthened

• NATGRID has become the one-stop destination for security and intelligence agencies to access databases related to immigration entry and exit, banking and telephone details of a suspect on a “secured platform”.

3. International Steps

• Christchurch Call To Action: It outlines collective, voluntary commitments from governments and online service providers intended to address the issue of violent extremist content online.

To tackle the menace of terrorism, a multi-pronged approach is needed, which includes

• Socio-economic development is a priority so that vulnerable sections of society don’t fall prey to the propaganda of terrorists.
• The administration needs to be responsive to the legitimate grievances of people so that these are redressed promptly and cannot be exploited by terrorist groups.
• Good governance to provide clean, corruption-free and accountable administration at all levels
• Government agencies should respect the rule of law and human rights. If the existing laws cannot deal with an extraordinary situation, new laws may be enacted so that law enforcement agencies do not resort to extra-legal or illegal methods.
• International Cooperation becomes crucial as terrorism is a global threat and cannot be handled by nations acting in silos. As a first measure, the international community should develop a globally accepted definition of terrorism.

Development encompasses the needs and means to provide a better life for the masses. It not only refers to economic growth but also human development. Developmental efforts should address the lack of capabilities, resources and opportunities to step out of poverty and deprivation.

It is a multi-dimensional phenomenon & measured on the following dimensions:-

• Extremism is an ideology or political act far outside the perceived political centre of society & that claim to violate common moral standards.
• Though this is a relative term which invites disagreement regarding benchmarks, it is broadly agreed that extremist views are not necessarily illegal and do not automatically lead to violence or harm. Extremism becomes a concern when those views promote violence, a phenomenon known as violent extremism.
• Examples of Extremism in India
  1. Terrorism
  2. Naxalism
  3. Insurgency in North-East
  4. Mob Violence etc. 

Common indicators in extremism-affected areas

1. Governance deficit

• There is no primary sustainable employment.
• There are no basic healthcare and education facilities.
• There is a lack of law & order and grievance redressal mechanisms.

2. Geographical Indicators

The geography of such a place is characterized by 

1. Difficult terrain
2. High forest cover
3. Inaccessibility
4. Tribal areas 

3. Social & Economic Indicators

Society and economy are characterized by

1. High levels of poverty 
2. Class & caste divisions
3. Lack of gainful employment for youth 
4. Very low levels of industrialization

4. Misc. Indicators

• Drug Trafficking 
• Religion & conversion issues 

Definition: IT IS A GROUP OF ONLINE APPLICATIONS THAT ALLOW FOR THE CREATION AND EXCHANGE OF USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND ARE BUILT ON THE IDEOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF WEB 2.0.

Social media is different from (ordinary) Media. Social Media allows people to raise voices who otherwise couldn’t speak or wouldn’t be heard. Hence

• Media= Source of information 
• Social Media = Source of Information + Platform for Expression

But there is no clear demarcation between them.

1.1 Spread Propaganda

• Internet & social media are used to spread ideological instructions & induct recruits by terrorist organizations. E.g., ISIS was able to attract Youth from European Nations and the US via their Social Media propaganda. 

1.2 Financing

Terrorists use social media to gather funds to finance their activities. Methods used by them include

1. Direct Solicitation: through websites, mass mail etc.
2. E-commerce: Terrorists use online payment tools to collect funds
3. Exploitation of Online Payment Tools: Younis Tasauli, a terrorist, was the mastermind of UK Credit Card Fraud. Money collected through fraud was used to fund terrorist activities. 

1.3 Training

• Terrorist groups are using Social Media sites to instruct on making explosives and carrying out terrorist attacks, along with methods to join the terrorist organization.
• Al Qaeda even had an online magazine called ‘INSPIRE‘.

1.4 Planning & Execution

• It involves remote communication between several parties, and social media help terrorist organizations in this regard.
• End-to-end encrypted messages provided by platforms such as WhatsApp also help these terrorist organizations as these can’t be intercepted by intelligence agencies. 

1.5 Cyber Attack

• It is the deliberate exploitation of computer networks as a means to launch an attack. Terrorist organizations are frequently carrying out cyber attacks. 

• In the past few years, several instances have come to focus where communal clashes are being planned or instigated through fake videos circulating on Social Media. 
  1. Police acknowledged that WhatsApp groups were used to incite Muzaffarnagar riots in the run-up to the 2014 elections. Indian Mujahidin and Hindu fundamentalist groups incited these riots by circulating fake videos.
  2. Facebook and WhatsApp were used in the Delhi riots of 2000.
  3. Gau-rakshaks, Jat agitators, and protestors in Kashmir also took advantage of WhatsApp groups to organize themselves. 

The Government has responded by banning the internet in such instances, making India the global leader in imposing internet blackouts. But that is only a tactical solution which prevents immediate violence.

• PARLER, a social network site similar to Twitter, was very popular among Trump supporters and was used by them to instigate Capitol building violence following the defeat of Donald Trump. The app was later banned from App Store.

• Social Media sites like Facebook are difficult to regulate, and they expose children to inappropriate material for their age. 
• In 2017, a game called Blue Whale on social media led to Children Suicides. 
• Trolling on social media can lead to depression among children.

• Criminal organizations use Social Media as support, communication and coordination tools to conduct their illicit activities.
• These kinds of illicit activities can be either purely information ones (i.e. spreading child pornography with fee, “virtual” identity thefts, phishing, the spread of viruses, Trojans, worms, etc.), or “traditional” ones (i.e. drug smuggling, human trafficking, money-laundering, transfer of documents from industrial espionage).

The Police departments, globally and in India, are using social media in the following ways.  

1. To gather information.
2. To create awareness by disseminating information and forewarning citizens.
3. To maintain a public interface and reduce the communication gap.
4. To increase citizen participation to identify crime. 
5. To get feedback from citizens and understand their grievances.
6. Social Media provide anonymity. Hence, it helps citizens overcome their fear of complaining about law and order issues.

In India, the potential to use social media provides vast potential for policing in India, as millions of Indians are active users of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other platforms.

Police and other law agencies use it in many ways. Some examples are

• All the state police forces have their official Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc., accounts for disseminating information and communicating directly with people. 
• Social Media Labs Project by Maharashtra Police tracks activity on social media to anticipate and handle sudden flares up.
• Delhi Traffic Police is using platforms like Facebook and Twitter to ease the handling of traffic-related issues.
• Intelligence Bureau’s OPERATION CHAKRAVYUH uses Big Data Analysis of Social Media posts and other things to find trails of youth that are getting radicalized. 

Social Media has changed the ways of doing politics in India. Some of the examples to corroborate this fact includes

Benefits of Social Media in Politics

1. Help the parties to disseminate their campaign, messages and ideas more effectively to the public.
2. Facilitate two-way communication between the public and political parties.
3. Cost-effective compared to print and digital media.
4. Facilitate targeted delivery of the message.
5. Levels the playing field

Issues

1. Post-truth politics: “Post-truth” describes situations in which appeals to emotion and personal belief have a greater influence on public opinion than objective facts.
2. Proliferation of fake news: Through social media, unverified information can circulate freely on the internet, increasing instances of fake news. 
3. Troll the dissenting opinion: Online abuse in the form of trolling, verbal threats etc., of people with dissenting opinions.
4. Misuse of data: For example, 2018 Cambridge Analytica case where personal data of millions of Facebook profiles was harvested without their consent and reportedly used for targeted messaging. 
5. Propensity to fuel social instability: Allowing hate speech and extreme speech to thrive in unregulated online spaces, particularly in regional languages, has widened societal fault lines.