Is the Strategy Against the Naxals Working?

Source: India Today

The BEST (India Today's Board of Experts on Security and Terror) warns the Government that its hardline Naxalite policy should not escalate into military action. It wants the focus to also be on strengthening local governance.

Ajit Kumar Doval, former Director, Intelligence Bureau: They are giving an impression that they are going to conquer their own land and vanquish their own people. That's a wrong message. The message that should go out is that we are keen on their development. And for supporting their developmental needs we will reinforce the region security-wise that they can get schools, roads and hospitals. Just as the ITBP is making a road in Afghanistan, we are sending 70,000 CRPF troops there to ameliorate the conditions of the people and save the tribals from exploitation. We are not sending the troops to conquer.

Ved Marwah, former Governor, Jharkhand: Very briefly about China. I agree that hysteria is the last thing that the Government should be doing or our media should be doing but the fact remains that China has been following a policy of containing India for years. But China's presence in our neighbourhood has had a dramatic increase in recent years. It started, of course, with Pakistan but now it is there in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal. Developments in Nepal should worry us because Prachanda's statements are strongly anti-India and he is interested in the Naxal wars in India. His first visit after he came overground was to Darjeeling and he met all these people because we have a problem related to the Nepalese in Darjeeling and in Sikkim. The Maoists, whether in power or not, can exploit this. So I think we should be very careful. My second point about China is the situation in the North-East. The situation in Manipur and Nagaland is worse than it ever was and in the whole of North-East, our control has really weakened and this is something that China is aware of. They will press our vulnerability at the same time, realising that this Government is desperate to keep its people ignorant because they want to present a picture that everything has improved.

The Government till recent times was trying to project to the Indian public that this Naxal violence was no problem at all. It's a minor law and order problem. Our previous Home Minister is on record, when he was playing with statistics, that the number of police stations affected in India is hardly 4 or 5 per cent of the total. Tomorrow they will say how many households are affected and then the statistics will come down further and they will say 0.1% homes in India are affected by Naxal violence. This is something that is happening in the North-East.

Coming to the violence, there are pluses and there are minuses. The plus is, after Chidambaram's taking over, they have recognised the problem and this is a big step forward. Having said that, the main thing is that it is absurd to talk of a military action. The Naxals will disappear and attack again. They have been doing this for along time. This increase in Naxal violence, I believe, is because of their link with Nepal. This is a vulnerability which they will exploit. Another negative factor is that we still find it difficult to resist the temptation of playing politics. Even in West Bengal, it is well known that Trinamool Congress is playing politics and the Central Government finds it difficult to keep its ally in check. Not that one approves of everything that the Leftist Government in West Bengal has done but now that they wanted to do something, why embarrass them? But they could not resist the temptation. The third point I want to raise is that of the Air Force chief seeking permission. When you are talking of self-defence, you are talking of ground, not of self-defence in the air. Even if they are shot at, we must realise that the target is not bang in front of you. If the helicopter starts shooting in the area it can create havoc.

Air Marshal (Retd.) Kapil Kak, Additional Director, Centre for Air Power Studies: (Interjection) You don't fire in an area, you fire at a point. For firing at our own people, the Indian Air Force needs political clearance. Let me clarify, what the chief said was that my helicopter is inducting troops in that area which is surrounded by Naxals. My helicopter is under fire. One of the flight engineers was killed on the ground by Naxals.

Marwah: It would be a wrong step because one flight engineer has been injured, it will have terrible repercussion and the Naxals will have a massive propaganda point. The fact is, you must strengthen the ground situation. The Naxals can't fire in the air like that. That means your control over the ground situation is so weak that they are firing anti-aircraft guns. I think the Air Chief has done a very wrong thing by asking for it.

Sending the army also will be a terrible thing to do. The situation on the ground has not reached a point where the Naxals dominate an area completely, except for Chhattisgarh. If the Government takes comprehensive steps the situation can be controlled. You have to put your house in order. You have to stop playing politics with the Chhattisgarh Government and the West Bengal Government. Even now, a very senior Congress leader says that non-Congress Governments are not cooperating. The agenda of the Maoists is not Congress or non-Congress governments, their agenda is India. Particularly after September 2004 when two major groups came together and formed the CPI (Maoists). There is an escalation after September 2004 and every year this will increase further. I am afraid, the Centre is ruling Jharkhand - there is no state Government but what is happening there? They have lost control of the Ranchi-Jamshedpur road which is such a busy road. Still they are playing politics. Fact is, every political leader has a direct nexus with the Naxals. This must end. If you want a comprehensive settlement, it must include strengthening of governance in the affected areas. We should not make Naxal affected areas punishment postings but should send the right people who are available. Also, governance can be improved not by just sending money, which is looted by politicians and bureaucrats but ensuring that something is done. But if we keep on ignoring as we have done in the past, the situation will get out of control.

Kiran Bedi, former Director-General, Bureau of Police Research and Development: I have a considered option. I had a part in drafting the Model Police Act of 2006. it was submitted to the Government on October 30, 2006 and was chaired by Soli Sorabjee. First, it went nationwide and then to a small group. We deliberated on Chapter 11, Policing in the Context of Border and Internal Security, and I remember we deliberated on what to do? Can we go about it state-wise or can we look at it as a zone? And the suggestion was the creation of Special Security Zones (SSZ) something which Marwah also just mentioned. I am looking at the SSZ of the affected states which includes portions of West Bengal, Andhra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh etc., In Section 112, if the security of an area is threatened by insurgency, any terrorist or any militant activities of any organized crime groups, the Union Government may with the concurrence of the state government declare such area as a SSZ. Any such notification will be placed before appropriate legislature for ratification within six months from the date of issue or first sitting of the legislature provided further that the period of notification shall not exceed two years unless it is ratified by the Parliament with the concurrence of the state legislature. It also said that the state government shall create an appropriate police structure and a suitable command control and response system for each such special security zone. Even for an existing thing we have very poor structure. We may have the command but a very poor response system so even within the state we have a very poor response, forget about the SSZ. The state government, in order to ensure coordinated functioning of the different wings of the administration shall set up in each zone, a suitable administrative structure which will integrate administration and developmental measures in the area. The Director General of Police shall with the concurrence of the state government issue orders laying down standard proceedings. We have not done it. We need to bring states together to become a security development zone, i.e. one command structure. Let's take up these young retired military men and let's create a new force. Now let them take this operational matter and let them do policing. Here we are starting jungle warfare training now. How do I recruit trained people? We don't have a response system. You can't wait for new recruitments and the jungle warfare for the next seven years. Create a force comprising young retired armymen with an experience of seven to eight years and put them into the security zone. They are also trained for jungle warfare and let them take charge. Along with it comes development. That means we have to politically solve this issue. Somebody should file a PIL, why can't it be declared a SSZ because so many states are affected? And that is what is happening, why is Andhra safe today? Andhra has those Greyhounds. You press the Naxals here, they go there. You press them there, they come here. It is happening in West Bengal. Why can't the country work together? I think this is the possible solution which I have in mind. This is what Chidambaram should look at, this is being pro-active and that is what the leadership needs to look at. Our young officials do not have the wherewithal, they don't have development, and the civil service doesn't exist in Maoist-affected areas. Look at the police which has been taken from West Bengal, they hardly had any roof on their head. They had locked up the weapons in a suitcase so that they don't get stolen and this is what the Naxal in West Bengal did - took away the weapons and now the police is weaponless. Today's picture showed a policeman in a lungi. They are there because they need a job and because their family has to be fed. Our policemen are not prepared for this zone at all. Why are they sent there? They are cannon fodder. I think what we really need to do is too treat this as a SSZ? Why can't we get trained infantry? Create a force for the next ten years, I don't want to call it an anti-Naxal force, I want to call it a SSZ force and these states should jolly well come together. To me this is the real political challenge. If Chidambaram succeeds in putting this, he proves himself as the Home Minister of India, otherwise he is not.

Major General V.K. Datta, former DDG MO (Special Operations): Why China is doing what it is doing today? It has brought out various strategic issues related to the sub-continent. You would have heard that people in China were thinking that they can break India into 37 different states. If you look at the map of India and consider me an outsider - a Pakistani or a Chinese - I see Jammu and Kashmir is burning, North-East is on a turmoil, Punjab can be restarted sometime and the central heartland of India is the red carpet. So what is left of this country? So they perceive that if we put pressure and give a little push India will disintegrate.

Our entire response to the Naxal problem is knee-jerk. The threat emanates from Nepal and comes all the way to the centre of India. You have to go in and dominate that area so completely that the Maoists don't return. You just cannot go there for an operation and come back. You have to have a permanent presence. Conduct development in the area, run a hearts and minds campaign, improve socio-economic infrastructure and education but do not go in like an army of occupation. They are our own people.

Ajai Sahni, executive director, Centre for Conflict Studies: The Government has taken on the Maoists by threatening to reach into their heartland and you have forced them into taking pre-emptive action in other states. We talk and can't do. The Naxals talk and do. There is a tremendous wastage of existing capacity and even the available capacity against the Naxals is not being used. The Government prematurely announced operations against the Naxals even before the security apparatus was in place. They destroyed the element of surprise and now are running around trying to deal with the violence the Naxals promised to unleash in their June document where they said the Centre lacked the capacity to operate against them across the country. The Government has thrown the initiative into the hands of the Maoists. In the short term, capacities have to be reoriented. Andhra Pradesh had the lowest police-population ratio but fought the Naxals by re-training, re-orienting and re-deploying its forces. This is something that the Central paramilitary forces are not doing.

Chengappa: Thanks, all of you for sparing the time. The good news is that the security is much better than it was the last time. The hero seems to be Chidambaram. The debate on China was very enlightening. To me it seems that the threats are real. These are not imagined.