Keeping their daily household chores aside, thirty to forty villagers line up at a medical camp that is being conducted at the village. All of a sudden, a group of youth, having a kind of resemblance to the militants sartorially, try to barge into the camp shouting "UN Murdabad’. The shriek of the villagers protesting against the alien elements is lost in the din of the shouting. The atmosphere becomes tense when one of them triggers his gun to disperse the public. Then enter some men-in-uniform into the camp. They take the youth aside and involve them into some negotiations. The villagers are asked not to panic. The camp resumes its proceedings meanwhile. The villagers have a sigh of relief when they are told that it was only a drama enacted by military men as a part of their training programme.

"This fictitious field exercise, christened Blue Helmets, depicts Congo-like situation during 1960-63", says Col K K Sharma who was the chief-coordinator for the exercise. This first ever mock exercise, held in India at the behest of UNO, was mainly intended to benefit army men and civilian police from the Third World countries that are so far bereft of any exposure to peacekeeping operations. "During this field exercise, the participants are made to know and understand how a peacekeeping operation takes place under simulated conditions", says the Colonel.

"UN Post" manned by four to six participants is set up at a location, called a "demilitarised zone" in peacekeeping parlance. A few yards behind the ‘post’ is a hill as a haven to the faction groups. Narrating the situation prevalent at the ‘post’, Lt Col Vasant Pande, Course Director, 3rd UN Peacekeeping Training Course for UN Military Observers and Civil Police, says: "The trainees are divided into three faction groups. The groups who claim supremacy over each other try to disturb the tranquility in the surroundings. Here comes the role of peacekeepers into play in toning down the passions of the groups, bringing them to negotiation table, extending humanitarian assistance to the affected public and restoring normalcy in the conflict area ." While one group comes to terms with the UN peace initiatives, the other two groups intensify their activities leading to an atmosphere more tense.

The entire area echoes the slew of bullets that are exchanged between the groups. After a while, one group brings an injured to the ‘UN Post’. Seeing his critical condition, the trainees acting as peacekeepers evacuate him to a medical centre. The trainees that man the ‘post’ are led by Sqn Ldr Weeraratne from Sri Lankan Air Force. The peacekeepers, in a softer tone, ask the group to give up its faction activities and not to disturb peace and tranquility in the area. The group later leaves the ‘post’. After sometime, the second faction reaches the ‘post’ in search of the enemy. They pick up a quarrel with the peacekeepers for giving medical assistance. They ask the "blue berets" to hand over the injured and not to meddle into their affairs. The peacekeepers, in the same vein, raise their voice and enter into argument with them. "Try to pacify them first and talk to them like their friend. Slowly, bring them to negotiation table. A peacekeeper has to exercise lot of restraint at this juncture", says a UN Observer who has been fine-tuning the trainees’ performance. Meanwhile, the group leaves the site and gathers at
some other place to discuss future strategy.

In this fictitious exercise, the three faction groups are led by trainees dressed as rebels. The villagers also have a share in the operation by acting as their followers. They add pep to the groups’ proceedings. The entire drama which lasted for almost an hour has been a life-long lesson in understanding the nuances of peacekeeping. Cdr Nishantha of Sri Lankan Navy acknowledges that he would go back to his country with a gamut of experience he gained through this three-week course that would help him to train his countrymen. So far Sri Lanka has not been party to any UN peacekeeping operation. Cdr Nishantha is the first person from Sri Lankan Navy to get such exposure. He hopes to see his country making a foray into peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in the days to come.

"A peacekeeper’s role does not end with solving the issue between the parties," says Lt Col Pintos, an Instructor from Uruguay. Other issues like protection of human rights, reconstruction of damaged area and assistance to local public also cropped up in the PKOs over the years. In the past, PKOs were confined to rivalries between two or more countries. Now they are extended to solving intra-state rivalries too. Civilian police have also a role to play in the PKOs. "Our role is to ensure that the local police in a conflict area acts impartially", accepts Mr AS Cheema from Delhi Police. He had earlier participated in Kosova operations.

Do we need such simulated milieu to train men when faction activities are galore everywhere? "Of course, we do need them" is the unanimous reply from all participants. Keeping this in view, CUNPKO, the training institution for conducting training in PKOs in Delhi, for the first time, incorporated field exercise as part of training capsule. The training capsule, conducted from 6-24 last month, saw the participation of 40 military officials and civilian police including 26 foreigners from Bosnia, Kazakhistan, Mongolia, Sierra Leone and other countries . The local residents evinced an encouraging interest in the capsule despite a wish that Biswaar does not join the countries which require UN operations for internal and external peace.