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Army conducts huge exercise in Siliguri

Using the complete paraphernalia of intelligence collection, the Indian army is conducting a mock exercise with air support in the mountainous regions in Siliguri in Bengal ''to keep the ground forces active''.

''Exercise Sinhgarh,'' spread over 120 sq km, is ''to give a touch of realism to the armed forces and to keep them active,'' army officials said.

Briefing visiting newspersons, they said the exercise, basically a ground operation, will help the armed forces ''realise the importance of aggression and moral ascendancy over the enemy.''

Though ''a routine one, the dummy mission assumes all the more significance in the Siliguri corridor and will involve the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, electronics and media.

The Siliguri corridor beginning from Kishanganj and Islampur in West Bengal and ending on its border with Assam, is rapidly becoming a hotbed of drugs and arms smuggling. ''This corridor, with its narrowest at barely 24 km has a strategic importance for India, choke this area and the entire east is cut off. Moreover, the Kamtapuri movement is brewing and the demography is changing due to illegal Bangladeshi immigration,'' they added.

Considering the importance of intelligence gathering in modern warfare, a ''fully equipped'' surveillance centre has been established on either side of the assumed international boundary marked by a red line, supplemented with radars and satellite imagery of ground movements, they added.

The operation, using crackers for various purposes such as artillery fire, discovery of aircraft, and arms and ammunition, began on February 8 and will end today.

The whole exercise, which is being conducted somewhere near Kalimpong in the Siliguri corridor, an area covertly affected by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, is being monitored by a central neutral umpire organisation. The umpires will clinch the winners based on the logistics management and the number of ''casualties''.

Both sides of the red line would constantly report about the progress of the ''battle'' to the umpires who would in turn decide matters of arms and ammunition, recoveries and casualties. ''The management of logistics is critical and has to be dovetailed with the mission plans,'' they added.

Moreover, ''the capture of a politically sensitive town, Rheknok, held by the defence forces who have a division to work with, by the attackers who have a larger army at the brigade level, will mark the end of the battle,'' the sources said.

The defenders of the red line have set up a series of defences in the forms of bunkers, mines ''and the whole works''. The attackers will have to seize communication centres and ultimately Rheknok, engaging in surprise and deceit.

''All troop movements and intelligence gathering is done mostly at night. This would exercise the armed forces in working in dark as easily as in daylight,'' they added.

In the battle, which is basically a ground operation, air force is helping both defenders and attackers in ''reconnaissance and strikes.''

However, no mechanised or armoured troops are being put into action. ''After all, we have limited resources. We are pooling in all that is possible in this exercise which should have been conducted every year but now being done once in two years due to financial crunch,'' official said.

The deployment and logistic plans of both sides are progressing as envisaged. ''The results will be known only after the termination of the operation.''

For the first time in the army, the umpire organisation will use a computer login model designed and developed by 20 mountain divisions in deciding the winners. The software programme which can recall previous engagements and give a possible outcome based on the inputs of logistics and casualties is a decision-making tool.

''On the termination of this exercise, this software will be further refined to make it into a dynamic package suitable for various conditions,'' the officials said.

Apart from providing valuable inputs for future battle preparations, the mock operations has given the medical corps an opportunity in evacuating ''casualties, using helicopters in cases of serious 'injuries', fast and with minimum facilities. The judgement of the doctors under pressure is also tested, they added''

UNI

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