{"id":36997,"date":"2023-08-16T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T05:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36997"},"modified":"2025-04-22T09:58:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T04:28:55","slug":"mizoram-of-1966-how-air-forces-ops-quelled-operation-jericho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mizoram-of-1966-how-air-forces-ops-quelled-operation-jericho\/","title":{"rendered":"Mizoram of 1966: How Air Force\u2019s ops quelled Operation Jericho"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mizoram of 1966<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What was the Government\u2019s Response?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How was the IAF Involved?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What Followed after the Quelling of Operation Jericho?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The use of air power in Mizoram in 1966 has become a hot topic of discussion after the PM of India mentioned it in the Lok Sabha while replying to the no confidence motion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Mizoram of 1966:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A period of protests and armed insurgency followed in the 1960s.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>A separatist movement<\/strong> (seeking independence from India) led by Mizo National Front (MNF) was gathering steam in the area now known as Mizoram, and then referred to as the Mizo Hills.<\/li>\n<li>The Centre had decided to station another <strong>Assam Rifles battalion <\/strong>in the Hills, in addition to the one Assam Rifles battalion and a few BSF companies already present.<\/li>\n<li>Outraged by this, the MNF leadership decided to launch \u2018<strong>Operation Jericho<\/strong>\u2019 to take control of Aizawl and overran Aizawl in a few days\u2019 time (in late February).\n<ul>\n<li>Operation Jericho had been described by a military writer as an <strong>expression of confidence and clinical planning not witnessed hitherto fore in the Indian subcontinent<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>A large number of volunteers who joined in the armed struggle were either <strong>ex-servicemen or personnel of the Assam Regiment battalions<\/strong> dismissed for lack of discipline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Mizo rebels had besieged<\/strong> the HQs of 1 Assam Rifles and released all prisoners from the local jail.\n<ul>\n<li>There was widespread <strong>looting <\/strong>of arms and cash from the government treasury.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proclamations of \u201cindependence\u201d<\/strong> were made and a demand raised for the Assam Rifles to surrender.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What was the Government\u2019s Response?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Army operations<\/strong> on the ground to clear rebel-held positions was led by Brig (later Maj Gen) Rustom Zal Kabraji, who was commanding the 61 Mountain Brigade, located at Agartala.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Attempts were made to re-supply the Assam Rifles battalion<\/strong> with helicopters, but these were shot at by the Mizo rebels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The operations on the ground<\/strong> faced stiff resistance from the rebels, taking several days to reach Aizawl.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How was the IAF Involved?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>As the Army struggled to dislodge the rebels, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was called in.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The IAF\u2019s initial role was to re-supply the army installations<\/strong>, for which Dakotas and Caribou transport aircraft were pressed in from Guwahati and Jorhat.<\/li>\n<li>In one such mission, the Dakota received 21 bullet holes before it landed at Kumbhigram air base near Silchar.<\/li>\n<li>This was the event that necessitated the <strong>offensive air operations.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The two IAF Squadrons,<strong> 29 Squadron and 14 Squadron<\/strong>, were primarily involved in the air ops.\n<ul>\n<li>The 29 Squadron flew the Toofani (French origin Dassault Ouragan) based at Bagdogra, while the 14 Squadron flew Hunters out of Jorhat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The actual missions<\/strong> started on March 5. The air attack helped the Army regain control of vast areas that had been declared independent.<\/li>\n<li>By the end of the month, Brig Kabraji\u2019s Brigade had regained control of Mizoram.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Cy_MrNaYPGY\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cy_MrNaYPGY\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Followed after the Quelling of Operation Jericho?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/_KEQG1himqYqWIjJEodam8LKUV98hbDHoLvAia9zQ3TGoxr2yBXF6C9gdSHdwPffv9Oj3-B12Ps2VM0gudQHbyaRCtv2fOrLt7jsiAdlr-JYcsdOuY99etCntyo5oxq7UEsIhsxFSXAC\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Like several other northeastern states of India, <strong>Mizoram was previously part of Assam<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In 1971, the government agreed to convert the Mizo Hills into a <strong>Union Territory (UT)<\/strong>, which became UT of Mizoram in <strong>1972<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Following the Mizoram Peace Accord (1986)<\/strong> between the Government and the MNF, the Indian Parliament adopted the 53rd amendment of the Indian Constitution in 1986.<\/li>\n<li>This allowed for the creation of the<strong> State of Mizoram on 20 February 1987, as India&#8217;s 23rd state.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) How can a new state be formed in India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new states on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit. Article 3 of the Constitution of India authorises the Indian Parliament to form new states; alter the area, boundaries or names of existing states by legislation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the strategic significance of the Indian state of Mizoram?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Sandwiched between Myanmar in the east and south and Bangladesh in the west, Mizoram occupies an area of great strategic importance in the north-eastern corner of India.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-history\/air-forces-operations-in-mizoram-how-operation-jericho-was-quelled-8895681\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Air Force\u2019s ops in Mizoram: How Operation Jericho was quelled<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The use of air power in Mizoram in 1966 had helped to quell Operation Jericho \u2013 a separatist movement seeking independence from India<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}