Call Army as last resort

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
Armys 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
Armys 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.