Retirement blues

Reports that several surrendered Maoists in Andhra Pradesh are being hounded by their former comrades,and are going underground in fear,brings to mind the guru of counter-insurgency,Sir Robert Thompson. He famously argued that the Vietnam war would be won by brains and on foot,not by air bombardment. In his classic study Defeating Communist Insurgency: Experiences in Malaya and Vietnam,he refers to facilitating the surrender of insurgent leaders to change the nature of the fight. In AP,that surrender effort is being jeopardised by the killing of a former Dalam commander,attempts on other Naxals,and fear amongst the retirees.

The reason why former comrades in Andhra Pradesh seem to be on the Maoist hit list is telling. Intelligence sources argue that with the expected government measures,Maoist leaders may want to retreat from states where they have roamed to Andhra Pradesh where successful action has all but driven them out. They are worried that former members may reveal their hideouts hence this preventative silence. This is precisely why the government must go all-out to protect them. Andhra Pradesh has been a rare success story in the fight against Naxals; that story must not be allowed to turn. Protecting surrendered Naxals is good strategy in other ways. Boots on the ground must be accompanied by a political strategy and a propaganda war. In this war of ideas,keeping the surrendered comfortable encourages serving Naxalites to defect,depleting the CPI Maoists in a way firepower alone cannot. Surrendered Naxals also provide the intelligence inputs and the symbolism to wrest the initiative. Besides,there is the moral question: insurgents surrender on the sovereign guarantee of protection; the state will be breaking its promise if it fails in this.

Robert Thompson was ignored by American commanders in Vietnam. The results were prophetic. More recently,it took the Thompson-inspired Petraeus counter-insurgency manual to turn around Iraq. As the government gears up to a coordinated strategy against the Naxals,Thompsons Defeating Communist Insurgency might be worth reading.