Keuter thekeo khipro COBRA (COBRA is quicker than the cobra)
Tarun Ghosh
The garb consists of olive coloured trousers and T-shirts of the same colour. The small backpack contains emergency medicines, water dry food, anti-venom ampules and syringe, not to mention six different types of knives. (
) An automatic pistol adorns the waist. The weapon of choice is the Heckler and Koch MP5, the other hand cradles a Dragunov rifle.
{INSAS and AK-47 are also mentioned as options elsewhere. Accompanying picture shows a jawan with an AK} Everyone's age is between 18 and 24, their movements are as quick as a snake strike, eyes are always darting around, taking in the situation. They speak less and depend on sign language for the most part. This is the first time this force has been deployed in WB's lalgarh.
They are the COBRA.
The T-shirts have raised questions have been raised in some quarters. The answer lies in their short history. The decision to raise this advanced force was taken by the Central Govt in August 2008. The force was created out of CRPF's youngest, most motivated and most competent jawans. Their training period is of 2 years. Since their training is still incomplete the uniform hasn't been decided upon yet. Hence the olive casuals.
COBRA would eventually consist of 10 battalions totaling around 10,000 men. Currently the battalions have been raised with the very low strength of 40-45 as against the normal 900 for a single battalion. Training is going on at two places -- koraput and variengte CIJWS.
{I thought the second was in chattisgarh. It might be that the initial members would do a course at CIJWS}
COBRA members are being taught jungle survival and emphasis is being given on living off the land in jungle environment.
They prefer eliminating enemies by hand or with knife, a bullet can alert the others.
All of them are sharp shooters
{a bit skeptical about this} They are taught to fire accurately from 300 meters. In stead of the familiar bulls eye, they use coconuts adorned with a red dot which are hung from trees and the coconuts are given a firm push. The dense forests in which such training is conducted adds to the difficulty of hitting the red dot on the oscillating coconuts ! Of the two years, around 8 months is expended in creating a "perfect sharp-shooter" out of the jawans.
The currently deployed force in lalgarh has only 3 months worth of training. But a CoBRA member claims that any of their member would do better than an Army jawan.
There are some thoughts in army quarters {the word used is
sena-bahini but I'm not sure the author means the army} of using this force as an advance platoon, they would aliminate nearby enemies and inform the larger forces back home of the enemies' position.
Not only in jungles COBRA will also be deployed in hilly terrain, the training site for that hasn't yet been decided upon.
In lalgarh, the police are outsiders while the maoists know the place like the back of their hand. Coupled with the coming rainy season, the area could become a death trap for the joint forces. This is why this specially trained force has been brought in even before their training has been completed. The CRPF officials initially opposed this but finally agreed to send in the COBRA as a covering force for the joint forces.
The two battalions of COBRA are currently spearheading efforts to gain control of the maoist dominated areas. If the maoists attempt to break the cordon into the "free-zone", the first resistance would come from the COBRA, CRPF forms the second line of defence.
Currently there are no plans for any major offensive operation. Unless attacked, the forces would advance in small steps, gain control of the villages and send in relief and supplies for the residents. This is a time consuming process but will hopefully keep loss of life at a minimum.
