Operation Bluebird, Killing of Naxalites and Just War

It was on July 9th, 1987, a "battle was fought between Indian army and Naga armies at Oinam village in Shepoumaramth Region with the 3rd Assam Rifle. The entire company of the 3rd Assam Rifle was overrun by the Naga army. The full arsenal of the company was captured; ten who were on sentry duty were wiped out, the rest of the rank and file surrendered. " ( Naga Hoho in White Paper on Naga Integration). The Indian army launched Operation Bluebird to recover the lost weapon in the neighbouring villages for over a month. Unarmed and innocent men were tortured to death and women were made to deliver babies in public. People that I know personally were disabled for life by the torture. Many of the innocent villagers trembled in fear; while many went to join the Naga army to fight the Indian army. The Nagas till today have not forgotten the torture on the unarmed civilians by the Indian army. 

On June 28, 2012, seventeen people were killed in what policed termed as the "biggest Naxal encounter" in the Chhattisgarh. Naxals usually don't leave the dead bodies behind. But in this situation, the bodies of 16 people killed were recovered. ( One person died in the hospital later.) Despite report of "heavy firing" only three country-made firearms were found. Even after two days of the encounter police were unable to trace Naxal connection of most of the people who were killed. What has gone wrong? Are those people killed really Naxalite fighters? Oh, no. Most of those who died were innocent and unarmed civilians. 

One of the reasons that the army usually gives for killing unarmed civilians is that these civilians are sympathisers of the armed  group. Now if the villagers perceived the armed group to be fighting on their behalf or for a just cause, then sympathy is bound to arise. On the other hand, the army too have their own sympathisers. People pay tax so that these army personnel would fight on their behalf and defend the country.  Thus each armed group has their own sympathisers and support system. So this raises the question whether it's fair for armed personnel to torture and kill unarmed sympathisers of the rival armed group. Should the principle of JUST WAR exclude sympathisers of the rival armed group to be free from being harmed? Yes, it is a must. Just as the Naxalites should not harm any unarmed Indian civilians for paying tax to support the army, I expect the Indian military personnel too to refrain from harming Naxalite supporters. The respect should be mutual. 

Armed personnel who torture or kill innocent and unarmed civilians should be punished. And systematic torture or killing of unarmed civilians in the past should be apologised to and compensated appropriately. Someday I wish that someday the Indian army would apologise to the Nagas for its deliberate and systematic inhuman treatment on the unarmed civilians. If the army personnel do not want their children or wife being killed or bombed, then they should also refrained from harming innocent civilians though these people may in one way or the other show their support to rival armed group. If at all the armies want to deal with such civilians, let the police keep them in jail.