The recent banning of “Jamaat-e-Islami” in Jammu and Kashmir has underscored the pivotal role of over-ground workers (OGWs) in facilitating the operations of terrorist organizations in insurgency-affected regions. OGWs, distinct from active militants, operate within the mainstream but provide crucial support by acting as recruiters, couriers, and informants for terrorist outfits. Their activities include aiding in logistics, financing, and even sheltering militants, thereby serving as a vital link between the underground networks and the external world. To counter this menace, comprehensive measures are imperative. Strengthening intelligence networks to identify and apprehend OGWs is essential, along with enhancing community engagement to deter support for such activities. Public awareness campaigns, strict legal measures, and targeted de-radicalization programs can help disrupt the OGW network, thereby diminishing the support base for terrorist organizations. Security forces must adopt a multi-pronged approach to neutralize the influence of OGWs, ensuring a more robust counter-terrorism strategy in insurgency-affected areas.
Tag: Role of external state and non-state actors, in creating challenges to internal security. Challenges to internal security through communication networks, the role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security, money laundering, and its prevention.
Decoding the Question:
- In the Introduction, write about over-the-ground workers.
- In Body,
- Examine the role of OGWs for assisting terrorist organizations.
- Discuss measures taken to control the influence of OGW’s.
- Conclude with a suggestion for such situations.
Answer:
Terrorism instills an innate sense of fear in the citizens and dilutes the perceived control of the state over law and order. This state of lawlessness creates conditions that help the terrorist group achieve its political aims. Overground workers(OGWs) provide a support system to terrorist groups and networks in carrying out their activities in insurgency-affected areas. In 2018, over 180 Kashmiri youths joined extremist groups, and around 56% were locals. The surge in local youth joining terrorist ranks spurred the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami. These local recruits are over-ground workers (OGWs).
Supporting role of Over Ground Workers (OGW’): GWs play a vital role in militant attacks, providing real-time information and support to the tactical elements. Overground workers have diversified into other roles such as stone-pelting, mob-rioting, ideological support, radicalization, and recruitment of militants.
- Food and Logistics support: OGWs assist terror networks to meet their basic needs.
- Propaganda and radical narrative: This provides the ideological background to the terror outfits.
- Finding recruits: A Pool of Disgruntled youth provides a fertile ground for OGWs to propagate radicalization and hire recruits.
- Keeping alive insurgency: OGWs are key in expanding the extremist Jehadi ideology.
- Logistics support: Their primary role is giving all kinds of logistical roles like providing shelter, helping to create safe passage for militants’ movements etc.
- Gathering intelligence: They act as eyes and ears for militant organizations and they are key in providing information related to the movement of security forces.
- Capable of doing small-scale strikes: They have enough radical youths to attack on a small scale which distract security agencies and helps militants to carry out big attacks.
- Distorting social cohesiveness: Social cohesiveness gets distorted when OGW’s start radicalizing communities’ youths and creating a sense of suspicion among other communities for any particular community.
- Conduit for Illegal Money: This is done through illegal trade, counterfeit currency, Tax evasion and Hawala transactions. These funds are also used to instigate anti-state protests like stone pelting.
- Assist in the planning and execution of terror plans: They provide operational planning, intelligence information, safety routes, maps and other inputs that are needed for terror operations.
- Act as Sleeper Cells: They act as sleeper cells and become active when an organization needs them to fulfill operational demands. It means they remain dormant for a while and become active for the operations and again become inactive.
- Assistance in Cross-Border Infiltration: Cross-border infiltration is terrorist In the Kashmir region is mostly carried out by these organizations. In this act, they search all new methods and areas for infiltrations so that they can be out of the security apparatus.
- Arrangements of Weapons: As it becomes terrorists to infiltrate India with weapons they usually come as localites and take weapons from these OGWs and carry out operations.
Measures to counter OWG’s:
- Effective Crackdown on Funding: Completely cracking down on funding by checking Hawala and Money Laundering is the most important aspect of neutralizing these groups.
- Intelligence Gathering: Intelligence is the most vital thing to counter these organizations by getting inputs like how they work, their networking, etc.
- Address the root cause of alienation among affected communities: This is done by addressing genuine concerns and through awareness campaigns that dispel false propaganda.
- Rehabilitating orphans and women: This would fulfill the state’s duty to ensure Social welfare. Also, It would counter the influence of OGWs to find recruits.
- Involving Local Citizens: Involving local citizens in this activity will help to keep an eye on all the activities and get all the minute details that cannot be gathered by security agencies and even technology has some restrictions.
- Human and Electronic Surveillance: This is used to tap into existing networks to pre-empt terror attempts.
- International cooperation: To facilitate follow-up on suspects and terror networks.
- Fast-track courts: Laws like the Public Safety act for the speedy conviction of terrorists and OGWs through fast-track special courts.
- Border Management: Fencing and continuous monitoring of the border areas through applications of various modern technologies.
The time has come to eliminate OWGs and their roots from disturbed areas like Kashmir. A multi-pronged approach is needed when it comes to dealing with OWGs. The constant evolution of methods for building trust and improving situations is necessary to change the minds and make them fertile ground for nation-building once again. The best defense against terrorism is to ensure that the people do not have the incentive to pick up arms against the country by providing them equitable political, social, and economic opportunities.
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