The Indian Army has sizeable experience in fighting insurgencies since independence. In fact from the 1950s onwards there has been no respite in this regard in the Northeast. In the past five decades or so, besides the ongoing insurgency in the Northeast, the focus has also been on the extinguished insurgency in Punjab, the dissidence and proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which is continuing, and the burgeoning Naxalite violence which started as a peasant uprising in West Bengal in the late 1960s and was put down by the Army, but has now spread to 20 of India’s 29 states with seven states being severely affected. While the Indian Army is fully committed to tackling the insurgencies in the Northeast and J&K, in the case of Naxalite violence it is only a facilitator imparting training to the paramilitary forces tackling the insurgency. The Maoist insurgency affects 2,000 police stations spread over 223 districts across 20 states. Internal security challenges to the Indian Union are serious enough to destabilise India if allowed to grow unchecked. It is in this background that India’s defence cooperation with many nations in the field of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism has to be seen.

On April 3, 2013, an Indo-UK Joint Military Training named “Exercise Ajeya Warrior” aimed at enhancing counter-terrorism skills and promoting positive military relations, trust and interoperability got under way at Belgaum. Exercise Ajeya Warrior 2013 is one of the major ongoing bilateral defence cooperation endeavours between the two countries and is the fifth in the series of joint training exercises which initially started as a biennial feature in 2007 to be held in India and UK alternatively. The exercise confirms that India’s multifaceted bilateral relationship with UK has intensified since upgradation of their relationship to a strategic partnership in 2004.

Aptly baptized as “The Invincible”, Exercise Ajeya Warrior is scheduled from April 3 to April 30, 2013 and will witness a company of 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh Regiment of UK Army and similar strength of 17th Battalion the Kumaon Regiment of Indian Army participating in the training.

Both countries have troops deployed in active counter-insurgency/counter-terror operations and thus sharing each other’s operational experiences in such diverse environment is of immense value. The exercise curriculum is progressively planned where the participants are initially made to get familiar with each other’s organisational structure, weapons, equipment, confidence training and tactical drills. Subsequently, the training advances to joint tactical exercises wherein the battle drills of both the armies are coherently unleashed on the terrorist. A brief stint with the Indian Air Force is also planned by way of helicopter effort and showcasing of the latest technology being provided to battalions combating terrorism has also been given due consideration. The exercise is a great step for the armies of the two democratic countries to train together and gain together from each other’s rich operational experiences who have been combating the terrorists in the Asian region.