COIN lessons from Jammu and Kashmir

Rahul K Bhonsle, editor of South Asia Security Trends drawing on learnings in Jammu and Kashmir states that it was critical that any winning hearts and minds (WHAM) campaign consisted of a two-pronged strategy including a process of reaching out to the people and thwarting the efforts of proxy operatives to negate the WHAM strategy. In a Manekshaw paper for the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, “Winning Hearts and Minds - Lessons from Jammu and Kashmir”, he recommends a human-centric approach commiting to equity of rights and reducing human losses as well as sustained policies which establish the genuineness of the government as critical to any counter-insurgency campaign.