Guerrilla Operations and the Political and Religious Aim

Guerrilla warfare is a war by irregular troops against a conventional army. The theories of Mao Tse Tung and Che have given a new dimension to this type of conflict. But both these guerrilla warfare experts talked only of a political aim to sustain a guerrilla operation.

In the present century this political aim is modified with a religious aim.Thus the Guerrillas fighting in Afghanistan, Philippines and Iraq and a host of other places have religious zeal as their motive in addition to the political aim. Thus the biggest challenge facing an established government is a Guerrilla operation spearheaded by Militants who are fired by religious zeal. For them the Establishment of an Islamic order in the purest form,however divorced from reality it may be is the ultimate aim.

Thus the Western powers led by the USA and other nations like India and Russia have to face the guerrilla fighters who are indoctrinated in the perverse aspects of Islam. Without this aim these operations may perhaps fail. Thus the Islamic militants take the support of the common man. The armies that fight these Islamic militants have thus the onerous task of weaning away the local population from the religious appeal of the militants.

There is no doubt that political or religious aim is the most important point and may well decide who wins the war. We are aware that the Guerrilla lives of the Land and people. Keeping the above in mind, anti-Guerrilla operations must be seemed to be just and avoid violence against the masses. The famous quote of Nietzsche "that whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster" must be kept in mind in these operations.

The breeding ground of Guerrilla activities is economic misery. In case this is eliminated the Guerrillas would loose much of their force if economic development is initiated. But the million dollar question is how do you usher in economic development when the Guerrillas are still active. Thus it is important to crush this guerrilla force like it was done by the Sri Lanka Army against the LTTE not with a little support from India.

Religion has a tremendous appeal. This in a way is also related to economic misery and more so ignorance. The Islamic jihadists draw their sustenance from the Islamic texts and play on the ignorance of the people. This turns into violent cocktail and fighting this menace can be difficult.

The Islamic Jihadists thus have for their own purpose indoctrinated a large number of people to fight in the name of Islam. They refer to it as a religious war and portray it as a fight between good and evil. This is a major threat for the Western Democracies, India as well as Russia and even China.

Modern guerrilla operations cannot succeed without a political or religious aim. Thus it is important that guerrillas are countered keeping this in view. More important it is incumbent to fight the religious thought as the appeal to religion transcends everything.