India rules out using army against Maoist rebels
RAIPUR:
India rejected on Tuesday the idea of using the military in direct operations against Maoist rebels, despite increasing pressure on the government to beef up its counter-insurgency strategy.
“There is no need to use the army in the anti-Maoist operations,” Home Secretary GK Pillai told reporters during a visit to the central state of Chhattisgarh - a stronghold of the left-wing guerrillas.
Pillai acknowledged that the Chhattisgarh state government had called for the involvement of the armed forces, but said the idea had been rejected at a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security in New Delhi.
A series of recent rebel strikes have highlighted the government’s struggle to find an effective strategy against the insurgency, leading to calls for the army and air force to be drafted in.
Pillai reiterated that paramilitary and state police forces were capable of leading the fight, although he added that the air force might be used to provide logistical support.
Chhattisgarh has witnessed three major rebel attacks on security personnel in as many months, including an ambush last week that killed 26 police officers.
The Maoists massacred 76 paramilitary personnel in a similar assault in April, and in May at least 35 people were killed after Maoist rebels blew up a bus carrying police and civilians in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the left-wing rebels, but Pillai warned that it could take “between five and seven years” to properly quell the insurgency.
Maoist rebels have fought for decades throughout east and central India against state and government rule, drawing support from landless tribal groups and farmers left behind by the country’s economic development. They started an armed struggle with a peasant revolt in Naxalbari village in West Bengal state in 1967 but were initially crushed by the Congress-led government after which they regrouped in the 1980s.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2010.
India rejected on Tuesday the idea of using the military in direct operations against Maoist rebels, despite increasing pressure on the government to beef up its counter-insurgency strategy.
“There is no need to use the army in the anti-Maoist operations,” Home Secretary GK Pillai told reporters during a visit to the central state of Chhattisgarh - a stronghold of the left-wing guerrillas.
Pillai acknowledged that the Chhattisgarh state government had called for the involvement of the armed forces, but said the idea had been rejected at a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security in New Delhi.
A series of recent rebel strikes have highlighted the government’s struggle to find an effective strategy against the insurgency, leading to calls for the army and air force to be drafted in.
Pillai reiterated that paramilitary and state police forces were capable of leading the fight, although he added that the air force might be used to provide logistical support.
Chhattisgarh has witnessed three major rebel attacks on security personnel in as many months, including an ambush last week that killed 26 police officers.
The Maoists massacred 76 paramilitary personnel in a similar assault in April, and in May at least 35 people were killed after Maoist rebels blew up a bus carrying police and civilians in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the left-wing rebels, but Pillai warned that it could take “between five and seven years” to properly quell the insurgency.
Maoist rebels have fought for decades throughout east and central India against state and government rule, drawing support from landless tribal groups and farmers left behind by the country’s economic development. They started an armed struggle with a peasant revolt in Naxalbari village in West Bengal state in 1967 but were initially crushed by the Congress-led government after which they regrouped in the 1980s.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2010.