VARANGTE (Mizoram), April 9 – As terrorism spreads its tentacles and fears of weapons of mass destruction falling into militant hands emerge, the Government has given the go-ahead for conversion of the country’s sole Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJW) here into a full-fledged Armed Forces College to frame tactics to deal with such threats, reports PTI.
With the conversion expected later this year, the warfare school is going in for massive expansion setting up specialised training ranges for counter terrorism encounters, jungle warfare, urban and semi-urban guerilla warfare tactics and counter improvised explosive devices centres.
The CIJW is also going in for framing tactics on methods to be adopted to hunt down and confront terrorists groups carrying weapons of mass destruction as well as finetuning tactics to be adopted in hostage taking, Brig B K Ponwar, Commandant of the School, told visiting newsmen here.
“With the North-East on the threshold of eliminating terrorism,” Ponwar said the CIJW was now shifting its focus towards Jammu and Kashmir and carrying out minute dissection and analysis of the ‘X files of the terrorist incidents.’ He said the CIJW was also helping in the process of establishing the Northern Command Pre-induction Training Schools. From a humble beginning in 1970, the CIJW today has transformed into a bustling complex sporting as many as 12 ranges spread over an area of thousands of hectares of jungles and artficially created villages with traps and targets.
“The terrorists are now turning invisible, growing faster, stronger and deadlier,” he said adding “we have to leap forward to a more antibiotic form, to rid the world of this scourge.” The Commandant said to counter this the CIJW was now laying emphasis on training on latest technology to comb terrorism as also on cyber terrorism, threats of NBC and economic terrorism. He said the school had also refined and devised new methods of terrorist interrogation as well on protection of VVIPs and besides, the armed forces was also training the para-military force.