Indo – Tibetan Border Police Should Be Made A Paramilitary Force And Renamed ITB Rifles
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces
The Home ministry thinks that Border Guarding is same thing as Border Policing. They are quite wrong in this premise of theirs unless it happens to be the Indo Bhutan Border or at the outside the Indo Nepal Border or the Indo Bangla Border. It certainly is not true for the Indo Tibetan Border where we have to deal with the Chinese. It is also not true for the Indo Pak LAC.
Home Ministry has cited said that according to international conventions, paramilitary forces guard the borders and the army remains behind the border posts. This true except that BSF and ITBP are certainly not a Para Military Force. They are Central Police Forces.
Therefore they are most unsuitable to guard against the Willy Chinese PLA or the aggressive Pakistan Army on the Line of Control.
Even on the Chinese side, the People’s Armed Police, which is under direct Command and Control of the Chinese Army, guards only the International Border while the People’s Liberation Army is deployed on the LAC on the Indo Tibetan Border.
To stream line things Home ministry can have he Border Security Force (BSF) policing the Pakistan and Bangladesh International borders and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) can continue policing along the borders with Nepal and Bhutan International Borders.
However when it comes to the Line of Control against Pakistan, the Border Security Force Units guarding it must be placed under direct Command of the Army and these units must be Commanded by Army Officer on deputation like the paramilitary Assam Rifles.
While the ITBP must be turned fully into a paramilitary Border Guarding Force, renamed as INDO TIBETAN BORDER RIFLES and placed under the defence ministry and officered by regular Army Officers on deputation. Policing and defending the borders are entirely different matters and we cannot afford to be playing games with the Chinese.
The Indian Army had in 1986, demanded operational command of the ITBP. The continuous demands have become more insistent since 1999 when a Chinese intrusion at Chip Chap in the disputed Aksai Chin region was reported while Indian troops were engaged in the Kargil war with Pakistan.
Amit Shah must go into these finer details and ask the basic questions and take proper decision in National interest.
The Indian Army must be given the operational command of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, as there have been more than enough “intelligence and command failure” leading to the ongoing stand-off and Chinese build-up along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
The Indo Tibetan Border cannot be defended if we continue playing our own bureaucratic games. Tge frontier is under constant threat, considering frequent border skirmishes and face-off and several incidents of transgression by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“The army must have the command of the ITBP to ensure better patrolling along the LAC especially at sensitive areas which have witnessed transgression and face-off in the past. The For e should also be turned into a true Paramilitary Force. Then only it will be able to develop the correct functional ethos.
The turf war between the defence ministry and the home ministry over the control of the ITBP is a long-standing issue but now the time has come to take a decision on this matter. The 3488 km long Indo Tibetan frontier needs proper military type guarding and not mere policing.
In case ITBP remains a police force and continues to function under Command the Home Ministry then Army should move back completely. All responsibility during peace time should must be vested with the Home Ministry and this Police Force. Once war is declared or situation is officially handed over then Army can move ahead and take over the responsibility.
