Former Director General of BSF E N Rammohan has been asked to conduct the inquiry and submit a report within 15 days to establish the circumstances preceding and the sequence of events leading to the incident of April 6, 2010.
'A demonstration of the force by the State will wean away a large portion of sympathisers. The hardcore ideologically motivated cadres are not likely to be affected by this, but it will ease the path of the impending operations by lowering the morale of the Naxal rank and file and raising that of the police forces as well as common people.'
There is no move to use the Army against Maoists, Home Minister Chidambaram said on Wednesday after paying homage to the slain CRPF men in Chattisgarh.
The CRPF and local police on anti-Naxal operations perform a thankless job but a few basic counter-insurgency measures could have prevented the deadly Dantewada attack, writes B Raman.
When asked for a confirmation, BSF Director General M L Kumawat said: "The BSF has earlier played a leading role in anti-Naxal operations. We may go to Naxal-hit areas whenever ordered."
Journalist and author Sudeep Chakravarti he explains that today's Maoists aren't motivated so-much by a desire for full revolution or for more money, so much as they are motivated by a desire for equality, purpose and dignity.
The Orissa government on Monday said it has no hesitation in initiating talks with the Maoists if they agreed to hold discussion within the framework of the constitution after abjuring violence. "However, the Maoists have to first shun violence before the government starts talking to them," Patnaik told the Assembly, adding any discussion with the Naxalites would not be fruitful if they continued with their violence activities.
The surrendered Naxal said such arguments and counter-arguments led to internal dispute. "I felt suffocated and a sense of remorse started setting in."
After months of being in denial mode, Nepalese Maoists have come out openly extending "full support and cooperation" to the Naxalites in India, days after Home Minister P Chidambram mentioned about a possible arms supply from them.
The "liberated zones" of the Leftist guerrillas in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh contain some of the most precious and valuable minerals. But the state authorities could not explore the minerals as the area had been under the control of rebels.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday defended West Bengal government's action in swapping women Maoist supporters with a police officer held captive by the Naxalites and said it did not consider the extremists as Leftists.
The next course of action against the Naxalites, who blew up a rail track in West Bengal that resulted in a collision between a passenger train and a good train, would be taken shortly following a high-level meeting, Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said.
The air element has a great psychological effect on the adversary as it can raise the morale of our forces while lowering that of the adversary, says Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd).
Even as spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar virtually offered to act as a mediator in the proposed talks with Naxalites, the Orissa government on Tuesday said it was not possible unless the ultras give up path of violence.
The scheme would check fake payments made under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and ensure that the officials don't fudge the workers' wages, state rural development department sources said. Launched from Dharhar village of Paliganj area in Naxalite-hit Jehanabad district recently, the 'E-Shakti' scheme promises to cover each worker with smart cards carrying details about duration of work, the wage earned, photograph and registration number of the beneficiary.
The banned Communist Party of India - Maoist has threatened to kill Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar if two of their top leaders were not released from prison immediately, official sources said on Friday. 'Dabloo', a naxalite leader, in a sms to a reporter of a private TV channel, claimed that the Maoists planned to kill the chief minister, State Home Department Principal Secretary Amir Subhani said. The message demanded the release of Naxal leaders 'Raviji' and Diren Singh.
Caught between the Naxals and forsaken by her villagers, a young girl tries to come to grips with a new life after she left the Naxals.
Andhra Pradesh police has foiled yet another attempt to supply arms to the Naxalites in the state by seizing a big cache of arms and ammunitions in the Medak district.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday appeared to soft-pedal his controversial remarks about Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Prabhakaran, by describing the LTTE as an 'extremist organisation'. A day after his remarks created a flutter, he told reporters that the "LTTE was not started as an extremist organisation like the Naxalite movement. It was started as a liberation movement but down the road it became an extremist organisation."
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday asked Home Minister P Chidambaram not to resign in the wake of Maoists' massacre of 76 security personnel in Dantewada, saying he should 'not show his back' as it would mean a victory for the Naxals.
They want the authorities to fulfill their security-related demands which include no duty in the mining area after sunset, increasing the number of security personnel and their presence in the workers' colony and in buses used to transport the workers. The operations have halted following a Naxalite attack on the site in which 10 CISF jawans and five Naxalites were killed. About 100 Nalco workers were held hostage by the ultras for over eight hours.
The Centre on Tuesday ruled out use of air power in the fight against Naxalites and admitted obviously some element of failure in the operations led to the killing of 75 security personnel in Chhattisgarh.
Swamy demanded to dismiss the AAP government in Delhi and asked for President Rule.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party workers shout slogans and wave banners during the statewide bandh called by the party on Monday.
Vowing to combat the Naxal violence with "full vigour," the Orissa government on Tuesday said Maoists must realise that their anti-national activities can't go on.
At the local level, resentment has risen over the rampant corruption in payment of money for tribal land, acquisition of arable land (half the land sought to be acquired for industry in Orissa, for instance, happens to be farmland) and lack of any support for resettlement of the displaced.
In the absence of the promised central paramilitary forces, the Orissa government is struggling hard to protect precious wildlife from poachers backed by Maoists in naxal-hit Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district.
There is as much difference between the LeT and Maoists as between the Al-Qaeda and Naxalites
A West Bengal minister on Tuesday hinted at the Maoist connection of Sankrail police officer-in-charge Atindranath Dutta, who had been kidnapped by the Naxalites on October 20 and was released after two days.
Normal life was affected for the second day on Tuesday in West Bengal's Maoist-infested districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the 48-hour bandh called by the ultras in five states to protest the offensive by security forces against Naxalites in Lalgarh.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat points out that states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have imposed a formal ban on the Naxalite organisations long ago. "But has the situation improved there? Their situation is similar to that of West Bengal," Karat told Business Standard.
Naxals looted six automatic weapons -- two AK-47s and as many INSAS and self loading rifles -- of the deceased personnel.
A bloody confrontation with the Naxalites will not solve the problem of governance failure in the poorest states of the country.
An editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana said that the Gadchiroli massacre, after the November 26 Mumbai attacks, had once again shown total inefficiency and irresponsible attitude of the state home administration towards the law and order problems affecting both common people and security personnel.
In the wake of the joint operation against the Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal, the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, will meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 11. On the same day, he will have a separate meeting with the Union home minister P Chidambaram on the joint operation against the extremists in the state. Both the meetings are scheduled to be held in the morning.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday declared his government's full support to Salwa Judum, the forest dwellers' peace movement against Naxalite violences, and promised to take steps to secure their livelihood. In his Republic Day speech after hoisting the national flag at Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar division, the Chief Minister said, "it was because of such people and their movement that the country's Republic is secured today."
Denying reports that Jharkhand had slackened anti-Maoist operations, state police chief on Friday said that they will launch a major operation against the ultras within the next couple of days.
A vacation bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Deepak Verma took up the matter on Monday after senior advocate Shanti Bhushan on May 22 mentioned Sen's petition in which a notice was issued to the Chhattisgarh government on May 4.
Chhattisgarh had little respite from naxal violence in 2008 which claimed over 200 lives and forced about 50,000 people to take shelter in relief camps in the state, where elections were held under unprecedented security in two phases.
Ruling out the possibility of Naxals shooting down the helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Union Minister M M Pallam Raju on Thursday said the mishap that claimed Reddy's life took place due to bad weather."The possibility of a Naxal strike on the chief minister's helicopter is ruled out completely. It was an accident due to bad weather. There is no hand of Naxalites," Minister of State for Defence Raju said.
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