Guns And Postures

There is no long-term strategy to contain the extremist resurgence in many states. A tough action plan against terror has to be accompanied by economic initiatives and political will.

PICTURE SPEAK

EXTREME ACTION: After recent extremist attack in Chhattisgarh

Over the years, the Naxal game-plan has also changed-it is no longer hit-and-run assault. It has become more violent. Naxalites blew up a bus and set fire to three other vehicles, killing 26 tribals, when about 200 of them belonging to Salwa Judum were returning home after attending a series of anti-Naxalite rallies in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on February 28. Then, in an unprecedented act, on March 13, about 50 militants hijacked the Barwadih -Mughalsarai passenger train in the Latehar district of Jharkhand, kept about 300 passengers hostage after looting them and beating up the drivers, only to flee at daybreak.

Even before the Jharkhand state and the Central Government-which has called a series of inter-state meetings for coordinated and concerted action in the last two years-could overcome the embarrassment, the militants struck again. On March 24, they attacked a sub-jail, police station, treasury and the special police camp in Ramgiri Udayagiri in Gajapati district, Orissa. They killed three policemen and took two officials hostage before fleeing after looting about 20 sophisticated firearms and setting free 39 prisoners including some Naxalites. It was a brazen repeat of a more daring jail-break in November, 2005 in Jehanabad, in Bihar and yet another in Koraput, also in Orissa, in the May, 2004, run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

What is emerging from the spiralling violence in 2006 is that the extremists are preparing to wage pitched battles against the state by roping in hundreds of militants and their supporters, even as they expand their base among tribals in numerous remote pockets. They are targeting not only the state police, but also paramilitary forces like the BSF and the CRPF. They are no longer content blowing up a government vehicle by setting off a landmine, but are also launching concerted attacks against government institutions.

Since 2000, their arsenal has been getting more sophisticated, with the acquisition of new weapons, including the AK series of rifles, carbines, sten guns and grenade launchers. Evidently, weak-kneed policy decisions have emboldened the militants to indulge in more sensational acts of violence.

TERROR TOLL

669 Number of lives lost in Naxalite violence last year. 223 Number of Naxalites killed by security forces in 2005. 391 Number of Naxalite attacks in the first three months of 2006.

All the Naxal-affected states will constitute inter-state intelligence support teams to tone up the information gathering and sharing mechanism.

The CRPF, which takes care of the security of the states, will set up its own intelligence wing. There will be daily sharing of information forwarded by the security agencies as well as the specially constituted team in each state.

The affected states will implement policies similar to those of Andhra Pradesh which has been able to tackle Naxal violence. For this, the states are willing to create entities like the Special Intelligence Bureau, which gathers and updates information exclusively on Left wing extremism on every six hours.

The state governments of the affected states have been advised to shift top Naxalite leaders to high security cells, and to fill vacancies in the police departments expeditiously.

The states are also to borrow and adapt from the experience of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh has virtually outsourced the battle against the militants to tribes and others.

Though it is a multi-party effort, in the absence of reliable intelligence inputs, the Judum activists and the security forces have paid heavily with their lives so far. Civilian deaths have risen sharply from 52 last year to 86 in the first three months in this year. Andhra Pradesh, however, is trying out a variant by roping in former Naxals and those who have surrendered but are willing to work under the banner of the newly formed Anti-Maoist Committee.

These are unimaginative initiatives considering the militants are well entrenched, though hardcore Naxals across the country are estimated to number about 10,000 with about 5, 000 firearms. The challenge is to mix perfect policing policy with a well-coordinated, sensitive and holistic national approach to address the grievances of sections of the jobless and the poor. The Naxals are powerful in areas where governments have been tardy in providing basic utilities to the poor.

To counter that, the administration has to encourage large-scale, labour-intensive units close to the backward tracts to wean away potential militants. Some of the worst-hit states have rich deposits of minerals with the potential to attract billions of dollars in investments. Already, L.N. Mittal, the world's largest steel manufacturer, is keen to build a $9 billion plant in Jharkhand while Posco of South Korea wants to invest $12 billion in Orissa. With a tough action plan to combat terror, more such investments will follow.

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