Using the Military for Domestic Security: Operation Blue Star Essay Example
Using the Military for Domestic Security: Operation Blue Star
INTRODUCTION
With very rare exceptions, in the United States the military is prohibited from performing domestic security functions. In recent years, due primarily to a perceived need to use the vast resources of the military to efficiently combat terrorism, there has been a move underway to reassess these restrictions. When examining this issue, however, it is not enough to enumerate the skills, training, and resources that the armed forces could potentially bring to the domestic security table. There are other nations that do not have similar restrictions on using the military in domestic police functions, and their experiences should be scrutinized. One such nation is India, and there are few better examples of negative effects from using the military for internal security functions than Operation Blue Star. Operation Blue Star was a military action undertaken by the government of India to rid a rural region dominated by a religious minority of a volatile insurgent and terrorist leader and his associates who had set up an armed base in a temple complex that was of great significance to the local population. Not only did the military action itself go awry, but the fallout from this action had repercussions for years to come. This paper will examine the events leading to Operation Blue Star, the operation itself, the aftermath, and finally will compare civil-military relations in India and the United States and the legality of using the U.S. military in a similar role in this country. Note that Sikh “eyewitness” versions of event have been included. Without the reports of independent observers due to total press censorship by the Indian government, these versions of events became quite significant in forming the general opinion and reaction of Sikhs.
EVENTS LEADING TO OPERATION BLUE STAR
The Punjab is India’s primary agricultural region with a large Sikh population. Sikhs, in
INTRODUCTION
With very rare exceptions, in the United States the military is prohibited from performing domestic security functions. In recent years, due primarily to a perceived need to use the vast resources of the military to efficiently combat terrorism, there has been a move underway to reassess these restrictions. When examining this issue, however, it is not enough to enumerate the skills, training, and resources that the armed forces could potentially bring to the domestic security table. There are other nations that do not have similar restrictions on using the military in domestic police functions, and their experiences should be scrutinized. One such nation is India, and there are few better examples of negative effects from using the military for internal security functions than Operation Blue Star. Operation Blue Star was a military action undertaken by the government of India to rid a rural region dominated by a religious minority of a volatile insurgent and terrorist leader and his associates who had set up an armed base in a temple complex that was of great significance to the local population. Not only did the military action itself go awry, but the fallout from this action had repercussions for years to come. This paper will examine the events leading to Operation Blue Star, the operation itself, the aftermath, and finally will compare civil-military relations in India and the United States and the legality of using the U.S. military in a similar role in this country. Note that Sikh “eyewitness” versions of event have been included. Without the reports of independent observers due to total press censorship by the Indian government, these versions of events became quite significant in forming the general opinion and reaction of Sikhs.
EVENTS LEADING TO OPERATION BLUE STAR
The Punjab is India’s primary agricultural region with a large Sikh population. Sikhs, in