Commandos not effective in Naxal war
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Commandos trained for warfare are used to protect VIPs which has made the fight against Naxal rebels ineffective, an NDTV exclusive report has found.
Commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force are also used for protecting police stations, and rebel sympathisers are said to have infiltrated the forces.
The commandos at Kanker in Chattisgarh are taught to kill and eat deadly snakes during operations in dense forests.
In the past two years, 2,600 commandoes have passed out of but only three hundred have been inducted in operations against the rebels. The rest are involved in providing protection to state VIPs.
Security expert KPS Gill who advised the Chattisgarh Chief Minister for a year says such an arrangement is very unusual.
''Even a constable cannot be transferred by the DGP, leave aside DSPs , inspectors and others,'' Gill said.
''This is the first time I have seen, and I have worked in six different states and three and four different police organisations. This is the first time in my experience, I have seen this sort of situation.''
Gill says terror cannot be fought successfully if there is corrruption.
The BJP has also called a meeting on the ineffectiveness of the CRPF in Chattisgarh.
The local police seem to have lost the will to fight the naxals and in any case more than half of the eleven CRPF battlions posted in the region are used just protect the police stations in the area.
On the other hand the state says the CRPF is ineffective.
The state's Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam said ''as far as the CRPF is concerned, they have not proved very effective till now, they have not any extra-ordinary results. You need to mix them up with the local police for effective policing.''
The Centre too is aware of the ineffectiveness of its forces, but they suspect it is because some in the local administration are naxal sympathisers.
The Indian airforce had started special reconnaisance flights by unmaned aerial vehicles over the jungles of Chattisgarh.
But just a month after the flights began the airforce complained to the Home Ministry that the rebels get advance information about its flight schedules and take cover.
NDTV
Labels: Chhatisgadh
posted by Resistance 7/15/2007 03:07:00 PM,
