The Dantewada bloodbath of Central Reserve Police Force jawans has shocked civil society. Most feel a dialogue between the government and non-governmental organisations could have reaped better results than the violent route the government has pursued against the Naxalites.
Additional Director General (Naxal operations) Ram Niwas said that a police team of 145 troopers was on a search operation in the Chintalnaar area, when the Naxals struck.
The battle against the infiltrators in Kashmir and the battle against the Maoists need strong but different responses, argues Brigadier S K Chatterji (retired).
Maoists on Thursday night freed the four abducted policemen in a dense forest of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district after keeping them hostage for 12 days, a senior police officer said.
Major changes in the Central Reserve Police Force's operational strategies are underway following the recent setback against Naxals, especially in Dantewada where it lost over 75 personnel. The post of CRPF Inspector General of Police (Operations) is likely to be created in every state where the force is deployed for anti-Naxal operations, official sources said.
Rajeev Srinivasan on why the Thai troubles should be an eye-opener for India, which faces similar insurgents with covert agendas.
Condemning the Maoist attack in Dantewada which claimed 31 lives, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday asked the government to take necessary steps to counter the 'bankrupt' policies of the extremists to attack commoners.
A two-day bandh called by the Maoists in six states began on a bloody note with Naxals killing two policemen in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district and five Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters in West Bengal's West Midnapore district.
To win the war against the Maoist insurgency, the underlying issues of tribal alienation needs to be addressed first, writes Shyam G Menon.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, used by United States' forces to track down Taliban militants, successfully flew over the dense forests of Bastar in Chhattisgarh in the first trial run for anti-Naxal operations.
After the government came under opposition attack on the handling of Naxal violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the state governments have the primary responsibility to fight the Maoist menace and the Centre was ready to assist them.
The government will recruit about 2,000 ex-servicemen specialised in commando and jungle warfare tactics to impart cutting-edge training to the Central Reserve Police Force personnel. The recruitment of these ex-servicemen, which will begin in May, assumes significance as 75 para-military personnel were massacred by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada recently, raising questions on the operational strategies of the force.
Intelligence agencies have information about these dreaded outlaws, but are yet to put a face to most of them.
'When Maoists say that a protracted, violent, armed way is the only way to capture power then what is the way out except confronting them as a state,' asks Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan.
Maoists opened fire on Salwa Judum (anti-Naxal) activists located near camps of the Central Reserve Police Force and police, triggering a gunbattle, and set off an improvised explosive device in Dantewada district on Tuesday. However, there was no immediate report of casualty on either side in the face-off as intermittent exchange of fire continued late into the night, police sources said.
Maoists on Thursday attacked a police station and the house of a Congress leader in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, killing two of his relatives and leaving two others injured, including his son. Armed Naxalites struck at the Kuakonda police station in the district in the wee hours of Thursday. The policemen retaliated by opening fire. According to the police, six Naxals were killed in the attack, but their bodies are yet to be recovered.
The Maoists are at it again. According to reports, the Naxals fired at CRPF camps in Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts of Chhattisgarh late Wednesday night.
In a major breakthrough, the Chhattisgarh police arrested six Naxals including an alleged deputy commander who were involved in blowing up a bus recently in which 32 people were killed.
Projects include steel plant & railway line; Modi's visit first by a PM to the tribal belt in 30 yrs
The Naxals have stepped up the tempo and security agencies following the Dantewada attack had warned that there is more to come. Whatever intelligence that has been gathered on red terror would suggest that the forces are constantly increasing their capabilities, which include more men and sophisticated machinery.
Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has reportedly convened a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at 5 pm on Tuesday to discuss the growing threat of the Naxal terror in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The Maoist attack near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh is the fifth major strike by Naxals in the country this year.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday visited the house of a Central Reserve Police Force jawan who was among the 76 security personnel killed in the Maoist attack in Dantewada in April and assured the family of full support from the Central government.
At least seven jawans have been killed and 13 others have been injured after Naxalites blew up a vehicle of the Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in a landmine attack in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
It is necessary to make incremental progress, state by state, rather than aiming for an illusory knock-out punch against the Maoists, write Dr Shanthie Mariet D'Souza and Dr Bibhu Prasad Routray.
While security personnel and equipment are important, it is the mindset that is the pivotal tipping factor in the battle against the Maoists, writes Vivek Gumaste.
Official sources said the Minister, who spent over two hours at the CGO Complex office, held a close door meeting with CRPF Director General Vikram Srivastava and other top officers in which a presentation was made before the Minister.
The second phase of the Budget session of Parliament commenced on Thursday with all the attention turning on Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Internal reports of the Central Reserve Police Force, which has just lost 75 personnel in the Maoists attack in Dantewada, say the force's field commanders had pointed out lack of training, work pressure and communication gaps as some reasons for losses in operations.
Working for the adivasis' well-being through means that secure their rights, honour their dignity and build a shared prosperity will make the Maoists irrelevant, says Rajni Bakshi.
Calling his resignation episode a closed chapter, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said he decided to quit because the Central Reserve Police Force came under his charge but that does not mean state governments have no role in tackling the Maoists. "The resignation was indeed tendered. The prime minister has rejected it. The matter is a closed chapter," he told reporters, declining to talk further on the issue.
With coordination issues between central and state forces being raised in the wake of the Dantewada massacre, the Central Reserve Police Force on Thursday said it is conducting anti-Maoist operations in close consulation with the Chhattisgarh police and a joint offensive will be carried out.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday said the brutal Maoist attack in Dantewada, in which 76 security personnel were killed, is a reminder that no state government can single-handedly tackle Naxal violence and called for a coordinated action by the Centre and the states.
Home Minister P Chidambaram will make an on-the-spot assessment and review the situation in Chhattisgarh after the Maoists carried out the deadliest attack and killed 76 CRPF personnel.
Forty personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force, involved in Operation Green Hunt, were killed on Tuesday morning when they walked into a trap laid by Maoists at Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh.The attack took place when a CRPF patrol party was returning from a road opening duty in the Naxalite-infested Mukrana forest in the district, at approximately 6 am. The CRPF patrol party was totally taken aback by the Maoists.
Five more bodies of personnel belonging to the elite anti-Naxal force Commando Battalion for Resolute Action have been recovered from the Dantewada Forests in Chattisgarh.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday disfavoured use of air force in dealing with Naxalism, a day after Home Minister P Chidambaram said he was trying to 'convince"' the Cabinet on providing air support to anti-Naxal operations.
Sodi Sambo can now have her treatment done in New Delhi. Five days after the 28-year-old tribal woman from Gompad village in Dantewada district was detained by the Chhattisgarh government on suspicious grounds, the Supreme Court on Friday directed the state administration to permit her to travel to New Delhi.
The UP police said the arrests were made following an operation based on a tip off received in the aftermath of the Dantewada massacre, in which 76 security personnel were killed by the Naxals.
Faced with frequent disruptions of Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Speaker Meira Kumar said on Friday that she would soon consult all political parties on conducting it in the evening.
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