Operational Control of ITBP by Indian Army

DELHI, India - June 22, 2013 - PRLog -- The latest issue of Indian Military Review (IMR) to hit the stands carries story on the suggested demand by the Indian Army for changes in the operational control of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in the aftermath of the Chinese troop incursion in April into disputed areas along the Line of Actual Control in April.

The story recaps Army’s proposal to place the ITBP under its "operational control'' for "single-point control'' as well as effective "border-guarding'' rather than mere "border-policing''.

The army contended that there were “glaring deficiencies’’ in the “deployment and patrolling patterns’’ of the ITBP, which also were “not optimally-equipped in weaponry’’ and had “limitations’’ in reacting to operational contingencies.  The Army vied that India's border management posture would acquire the much-needed "cohesion, coordination and synergy'' to counter the People's Liberation Army's "offensive'' posture if ITBP was placed under its jurisdiction.

The ITBP has some five battalions (close to 4,000 troops) in Ladakh. It is also the lead force along the Sino-Indian boundary in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is deployed in parts of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Army and ITBP troops are deployed in adjoining areas along the LAC but the control and command is with separate ministries.

Consequent the Kargil Review Committee's report, Army’s demand emerged when the Government decided to make ITBP as the lead border management agency on the India-China border in the light of Chinese incursions in 2011 and more recently in April 2013 when the demand was again raised.

Having already pushed for jurisdiction over the ITBP with national security advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon, coupled with inter-ministerial consultations on the Naresh Chandra task force on national security, the MoD-Army combine wanted “an early decision’’ by the cabinet committee on security to resolve the imbroglio.

The Government appeared to have decided that it would not hand over the command of ITBP to Army notwithstanding its demand for operational control of the paramilitary force which guards the Sino-Indian border.

The home ministry's stand has been backed by the external affairs ministry in the past with the belief that border management with China is best done by a central police force during peace-time. ITBP automatically comes under Army's operational control during any conflict.

"Multiplicity of forces on the same borders has inevitably led to the lack of accountability as well as problems of command and control,'' held the crucial GoM report. But since then, both the previous NDA and the present UPA regimes have taken only half-hearted steps to plug the gaps.

The large land borders with both China and Pakistan, as also Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal, continue to suffer from a lack of coordination among the different forces manning the border outposts, ranging from BSF, ITBP and Sashastra Seema Bal to Assam Rifles and of course the Army, which report to different bosses and ministries.
India's overall border management policy has remained largely muddled over the years despite having a porous land border of 14,880-km, running through 17 states and touching six countries.