From correspondents in Delhi, India, 12:15 PM IST

New Delhi - The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which spearheads anti-insurgency operations in several of the country's hot spots, was helped by the Indian Army in framing a new programme to improve its outdated techniques to fight terrorists and guerrillas. Senior CRPF officials said the army, which has five decades of experience in guerrilla warfare, helped the CRPF devise a 28-point course for counter-insurgency operations, complete with new training manuals and video lessons. The officials said that after the paramilitary force was given overall charge of internal security, they realised the training of its troopers had to be upgraded so that they could counter the tactics used by Maoist guerrillas and terrorists. 'We will not only train our men with new tactics but also provide them literature and video footage for their training,' a senior CRPF official told IANS. The CRPF, used initially to complement state police forces in tackling law and order problems like riots, has increasingly been deployed for counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states, as well as to counter Maoist rebels. While framing the new tactics, CRPF officials said they even turned to the training manuals of Maoist groups to find ways to outwit the left wing guerrillas. 'We saw some of the literature used by Maoists for jungle warfare. They are not very well planned but meticulously made, which enables the Maoists to fight hard with security personnel,' said an official. The new techniques will streamline the CRPF's training programme. They include a comprehensive list of precautions for counter-insurgency operations, including ways to detect and defuse landmines and improvised explosive devices used by rebels. 'Every instructor has a different way of training but by using the video footage and common techniques all the men will be guided in a similar manner across the country,' an official said. The training manuals will be distributed to all units so that the troopers can use the new techniques to guard themselves from rebel attacks. 'The manuals and video footage include lessons on field craft and tactics,' an official said. The lessons will help the troopers to understand and use the local terrain more effectively, to analyse threats that they cannot see, to understand guerrilla tactics and to move in areas where they might be ambushed or attacked. 'The personnel will be trained to use the five 'S' and one 'M' - shape, size, surface, skyline, shadow and movement - to protect themselves,' said an official. There are over 28,000 CRPF troopers deployed in the 13 states affected by Maoist violence and 8,000 more in Jammu and Kashmir. 'We know that our movements in Kashmir and Maoist areas are constantly being monitored by insurgents and therefore we have to be on our guard all the time,' said a senior official. The new techniques will help the CRPF improve its performance during cordon and search operations, combing operations, raids, and search and destroy missions, officials said. The CRPF came into ex istence as the Crown Representative's Police on July 27, 1939. It became the Central Reserve Police Force on enactment of the CRPF Act in December 1949. The force currently has 191 battalions, including two all-women units and 10 battalions of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a special force used to control sectarian violence.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)